EV stock winners and losers in October: Tesla remains global leader, and Porsche comes out swinging

Today we’re kicking off a new spotlight on another very popular segment in the EV space – stocks. Over the past couple years, we’ve seen EV automakers financial bolstered or inhibited by IPOs, SPAC Mergers, or updates to their EV plans. Below, you can see how some of the companies building EVs compare side by side on Wall Street and how far they have come – or fallen – in the past year.

Comparing three different groups of EV stocks

Below you will find three separate tables, each unique in its own way, but each part of one cohesive set of data – how companies that are building some degree of EVs are doing stock-wise over the last month, how each compares to its competitors, and how each company’s numbers compare to its status a year ago.

The first chart is a global stock comparison, including legacy and EV automakers around the globe. We have included their highest stock price in their primary market, regardless if it’s in the United States or not. For instance, companies like Volkswagen Group and BMW are primarily sold on the XETRA German Electronic Exchange, Volvo Cars is on the market in Sweden, etc.

The second chart includes EV stocks sold in the US market. You may see some of the same automakers, but they may have different tickers, as they pertain to one of the United States’ several local exchanges.

Last but not least, we couldn’t provide EV stock numbers without delivering a table dedicated specifically to EV automakers, right? The third table consists of automakers that manufacturer EVs only – no legacy automakers that are starting to dabble in electrification here. In this table, you’ll see some startups that have gone public in recent years and how they’ve fared so far. Spoiler alert – not great.

Keep in mind, not one granule of this post is financial advice. It is simply stock data relevant at the time of this posting, compiled into one place for you to peruse, compare, and draw your own conclusions. With that, let’s start with the top ten EV stocks around the globe in October.

Global stock comparisons

It should come as no surprise that American automaker Tesla is number one in EV stock. Despite a pretty big fall compared to October 2021, the EV company is still nearly double the value of its second place competitor Toyota, which it dethroned as the world’s most valuable automaker years ago.

We feel a bit generous including Toyota in this list of EV stocks, because it’s just starting to dip a pinky toe into the BEV pool with its bZ4X, which will see boosted production following a massive recall pertaining to the EV’s wheels literally falling off. A steady outlook for BEV production could be a reason for Toyota being in the green compared to a month ago. Still, it remains down overall YOY.

Following its IPO split from parent Volkswagen Group on September 30, Porsche showed the biggest gains in October by a lot, jumping nearly $18 in value. We will keep eyes on this going forward to better gauge its early valuation and see how it pans out over time.

EV stock comparisons in the US markets

Moving our sights to US-specific markets, Tesla is again your top dog (get used to it). Toyota again grabs silver, but Build Your Dreams (BYD) is holding in third place for October, despite a near $11 loss in valuation compared to a month ago. Still, it has bested American automaker GM.

What may be most impressive about BYD’s success in the US market so far is that the company does not sell passenger EVs in the country – only commercial vehicles like buses and heavy-duty trucks. Household names round out the rest of the US list and include two nascent EV automakers in Rivian and Lucid Group. More on them below.

How the stocks of EV-specific companies stack up

If you’re here reading on Electrek, you may agree that this last list is the most exciting and probably most volatile head to toe. These 13 companies make up a lot of the EV stock being sold around the world. More importantly, they showcase just how drastic valuations can be between established scaled automakers and EV startups.

Tesla is once again the group leader (surprise surprise), followed by BYD, who continues to expand its footprint outside of China and into new markets, particularly in Europe right now.

The next two on the list are names you’d expect – Rivian and Lucid. Both are relatively young in the stock world but show minimal drops this month despite growing pains in scaling their respective EV production lines. YOY comparisons have not been kind to either young automaker, especially Rivian, which is down nearly $100 per share following its massive IPO in November of 2021.

Other Chinese EV automakers with US stock market presence join BYD on the list, including NIO and XPeng. Like BYD, neither sell passengers EVs in the country yet. Companies 10 through 13 are the current bottom feeders – EV startups that have yet to deliver an EV, and their valuation shows it.

Each of these companies has its own unique potential in a booming market, but each has faced its own setbacks in reaching scaled production. Whether their hurdles have been financial, infrastructural, or even controversial, these startups continue to fight on.

Of all of the companies on these EV stock lists, these may be most exciting to watch succeed and grow their valuation – if they can. Time will tell.

That’s all for now, check back with Electrek next month for the November report, so we can once again compare how these EV company stack up. Not only against one another, but also against themselves.

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