How to use Simply Wall St to Analyze Any Stock

If you are here it means you have already taken the first step. You have learned about investing in the stock market, you understand why investing for the long run is one of the smartest financial decisions you can make, and you have found Simply Wall St as the tool to guide you through your journey.

Now it is time to ignite the real engine — stock research.

Because before you build a portfolio, before you put a single dollar into any company, you need to know how to look at a stock and understand what you are actually looking at. Buying a stock without researching it first is like buying a house without ever stepping inside. The outside might look great but you have no idea what is going on behind the walls.

That is exactly what this guide solves. We are picking up right where our guide on How to Use Simply Wall St to Start Investing With Confidence left off — and now we go deeper. Step by step we are going to walk through how to use Simply Wall St to research and analyze any stock so you can make confident investment decisions every single time.

By the time you finish reading you will know exactly what to look at, what to ignore, and how to decide whether a stock belongs in your portfolio or your watchlist.

Disclaimer
The stock prices, financial data, and analysis referenced in this guide are based on information available at the time of writing. These numbers are subject to change and may look different when you read this. For the most accurate and up to date information on any stock, we recommend heading directly to the Simply Wall St platform to run your own analysis.

How to Analyze a Stock With Simply Wall St

Analyzing a stock on Simply Wall St can feel complicated at first — especially as a beginner. It can even feel like the platform isn’t delivering on its promise. But once you understand how it’s laid out, everything clicks.

To make this as practical as possible, we’ll break it down step by step using Tesla (TSLA) as our example. That said, you can follow along with any stock you’re interested in — the process is exactly the same.

Step 1: Create an Account or Log In

First, head over to Simply Wall St. Once you’re on the platform, you’ll need to either create a free account if you’re new or log in if you already have one.

The signup process is quick and straightforward — no credit card required to get started.

Step 2: Search for Your Stock

Once you’re logged in, your dashboard will open. At the top of the page you’ll see a search bar with 120,000+ stocks indicated inside it — that’s your starting point.

Click on it and type in either the company name or its stock ticker. For this guide, we’re searching Tesla or TSLA.

In this guide, we’re searching for Tesla (TSLA).

We would be using Tesla as a case study.

Step 4: Explore the Stock Overview Page

Once you select Tesla, you’ll land on the Stock Overview page — this is where your analysis begins.

full Tesla overview page

Let’s break down exactly what you’re looking at:

Stock Price & Fair Value
The stock price is simply the current market price of one share of Tesla. The fair value is SWS’s estimated worth of the stock based on its financials. If the stock is trading above the fair value, it’s considered overvalued — meaning you may be paying more than it’s actually worth.

Looking at Tesla right now, the stock is trading at $345.62 as of April 10, 2026, with a market cap of $1.3 trillion. SWS estimates it is currently 1.1k% overvalued — meaning it’s trading slightly above what the platform considers its fair value. Not a massive red flag, but worth keeping in mind before buying.

The Snowflake
The Snowflake is SWS’s signature visual score. It evaluates Tesla across five key areas — Value, Future, Past, Health and Dividend. The shape of the snowflake tells the story — the bigger and more balanced it is, the stronger the stock across all areas. For Tesla, you can see the snowflake is strongest in the Health area, showing a flawless balance sheet with reasonable growth potential.

Rewards & Risks
This section gives you a quick snapshot of what’s working and what to watch out for:

• Reward — Earnings are forecast to grow 34.08% per year — a strong growth signal
• Risk — Shareholders have been diluted in the past year
• Risk — Profit margins (4%) are lower than last year (7.3%) — a decline worth monitoring

At the top of the page you’ll see tabs — Overview, Valuation, Future, Past, Health, Dividend, Management, Ownership and more. Each tab dives deeper into a specific area of Tesla’s financials. We’ll go through each one in the next steps.

Competitors
SWS automatically shows you Tesla’s closest competitors so you can compare at a glance. For Tesla, the competitors listed are:

• General Motors (NYSE: GM) — Market Cap $69.4B
• Ford Motor (NYSE: F) — Market Cap $48.9B
• Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) — Market Cap $19.0B
• NIO (NYSE: NIO) — Market Cap $18.1B

Looking at the Snowflakes, Tesla’s competitors are scoring stronger in Value — meaning they may be cheaper relative to their worth. This is useful context when deciding if Tesla is the right pick over its peers.

Price History & Performance
This chart shows you how Tesla’s stock price has moved over time. You can filter by 1M, 3M, 1Y, 3Y, 5Y or Max. Over the past year Tesla hit a high of $489.88 and a low of $227.50.

The colored dots along the chart mark key events — dividends, financial updates, management changes, legal issues and more — so you can see exactly what drove the price up or down at any given point.

Shareholder Returns
This section compares Tesla’s returns against its industry and the broader US market:

	TSLA	US Auto Industry	US Market
7 Days	-4.2%	-8.5%	3.0%
1 Year	36.9%	26.5%	25.7%

Tesla has outperformed both the US Auto industry and the broader US market over the past year — a positive sign for long term investors.

Price Volatility
Tesla sits at above average market volatility — meaning its price can swing significantly in short periods. For context, its weekly volatility has been around 5% over the past year. This is important to know — Tesla can deliver strong returns but it comes with higher risk. Not ideal if you prefer stable, predictable stocks.

Recent News & Updates
SWS pulls in the latest news around Tesla so you don’t have to search elsewhere. Key headlines as of their analysis include an independent director notifying intention to sell stock and Tesla set to report Q1 2026 results on April 22, 2026 — a date worth watching as it could move the stock price significantly.

Step 5: Valuation Tab

The Valuation tab breaks things down to help you decide one key thing: is this stock actually worth buying at its current price?

It looks at what the company is really worth (based on its earnings, growth, and future potential) and compares that to the price you see in the market. If the price is lower than what the company is worth, it may be a good deal. If it’s higher, you could be overpaying.

In simple terms, it helps you avoid buying a great company at a bad price—and instead spot when you’re getting real value for your money.

Fundamentals Summary
Before diving into valuation, SWS gives you a quick fundamentals snapshot of Tesla:

• Earnings: $3.79B
• Revenue: $94.83B
• Market Cap: $1.3T
• P/E Ratio: 341.8x — meaning investors are paying $341 for every $1 Tesla earns. That’s extremely high, suggesting the market is pricing in massive future growth
• P/S Ratio: 13.7x — Tesla’s stock is valued at 13.7 times its revenue

For context on the earnings breakdown:

• Gross Profit: $17.73B
• Other Expenses: $13.3B
• Net Earnings: $3.8B
• Gross Margin: 18.03%
• Net Profit Margin: 4% — meaning Tesla keeps just 4 cents for every dollar of revenue
• Debt/Equity Ratio: 9.8% — relatively low, meaning Tesla isn’t heavily reliant on debt

Valuation Score: 0/6
Tesla scores 0 out of 6 on SWS’s valuation checklist — that’s a red flag. Here’s what it’s failing on:

• Below Future Cash Flow Value
• Significantly Below Future Cash Flow Value
• Price-To-Sales vs Peers
• Price-To-Sales vs Industry
• Price-To-Sales vs Fair Ratio
• Analyst Forecast

This tells you Tesla is expensive by almost every valuation measure SWS uses.

1.1 Share Price vs Future Cash Flow Value
SWS uses a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model to estimate what Tesla is actually worth based on its future cash flows. Here’s what it shows:

• Current Price: $345.62
• Cash Flow Value (Fair Value): $155.01
• Overvalued by: 123.0%

In simple terms — based on its future cash flows, Tesla appears to be trading at more than double its estimated fair value. That’s a significant premium. It doesn’t mean Tesla is a bad investment, but it does mean you’re paying a lot for future growth that hasn’t happened yet.

1.2 Key Valuation Metric
SWS identifies the most relevant valuation metric to use depending on the company. Since Tesla is barely profitable, SWS recommends using the Price-To-Sales (PS) Ratio rather than the P/E ratio for a more accurate relative valuation.

• Sales: $94.83B
• Market Cap: $1.30T
• PS Ratio: 13.7x — meaning investors are paying $13.70 for every $1 of Tesla’s revenue

1.3 Price to Sales Ratio vs Peers
This is where things get very telling. SWS compares Tesla’s PS ratio against its competitors:

Company	PS Ratio	Sales Growth
Tesla	13.7x	16.39%
NIO	1.2x	15.15%
Li Auto	1.1x	12.16%
General Motors	0.4x	1.56%
Ford Motor	0.3x	0.42%

The peer average PS ratio is just 0.7x — Tesla is trading at nearly 20 times what its peers trade at. While Tesla’s sales growth is the strongest in the group, the valuation gap is enormous. This confirms what SWS flags — Tesla is expensive based on its Price-To-Sales ratio compared to the peer average of 0.8x.

1.4 Historical Price to Sales Ratio
This chart shows how Tesla’s PS ratio has changed over time — going back to 2022. Looking at the 5-year view, Tesla’s PS ratio has swung dramatically — peaking well above 20x during its high growth phase and dropping significantly before climbing back to 13.7x as of April 9, 2026.

This historical context matters — it tells you that while Tesla is expensive today, it has traded at even higher premiums before, and investors have historically been willing to pay a significant premium for Tesla’s growth story.

1.5 Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry
This compares Tesla’s PS ratio against every company in the US Auto industry. The industry average PS ratio is just 0.6x — Tesla at 13.7x sits far to the right of the entire industry, in a league of its own.

This confirms Tesla isn’t just expensive compared to its direct peers — it’s expensive compared to the entire US Auto industry. Whether that premium is justified depends on how much you believe in Tesla’s future growth story.

1.6 Price to Sales Ratio vs Fair Ratio
SWS calculates a Fair PS Ratio for Tesla based on its forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. Here’s how it compares:

• Fair PS Ratio: 3.1x
• Current PS Ratio: 13.7x

Tesla’s current PS ratio is more than 4 times its estimated fair PS ratio — meaning even when accounting for Tesla’s growth potential, the stock still looks significantly overpriced by this measure.

1.7 Analyst Price Targets
What do Wall Street analysts think Tesla is worth? As of April 1, 2026, here’s the consensus from 41 analysts:

• Current Share Price: $341.25
• Average 12-Month Price Target: $415.13 (+9.65%)
• Analyst Agreement: LOW — analysts are spread more than 10% from the average

The analyst consensus target of $415.78 suggests Tesla has about 9.7% upside from current levels. However, the low agreement among analysts is worth noting — there’s significant disagreement on where Tesla is headed, which reflects the uncertainty around the stock.

1.8 Discover Undervalued Companies
As a bonus, SWS surfaces potentially undervalued companies in the same industry. For Tesla’s sector, it highlights names like Cooper-Standard Holdings, Autoliv and Martinrea International — all with stronger value scores on their Snowflakes.

This is a useful feature if Tesla’s valuation puts you off and you want to explore cheaper alternatives in the same space.

Step 6: Future Tab

The Future tab focuses on one key question: is Tesla expected to grow—and how fast could that growth happen?

It looks at forecasts for revenue, earnings, and overall business expansion to give you a sense of where the company might be heading. In simple terms, it helps you understand whether Tesla’s best days are still ahead—and how strong that future could be.

Future Growth Score: 4/6
Tesla passes 4 out of 6 future growth checks — a decent score that signals solid growth expectations ahead.

Key highlights at a glance:

• Earnings Growth Rate: 34.3% per year
• EPS Growth Rate: 34.77% per year
• Auto Earnings Growth: 35.3%
• Revenue Growth Rate: 15.4%
• Future Return on Equity: 9.84%
• Analyst Coverage: Good
• Last Updated: April 10, 2026

Recent Future Growth Updates
SWS also tracks the latest analyst estimate changes:

• Consensus EPS estimates fell by 20%
• Price target increased by 7.0% to $338
• Consensus EPS estimates fell by 13%
• Consensus EPS estimates fell by 25%

Multiple consecutive EPS estimate cuts are worth paying attention to — analysts have been consistently lowering their earnings expectations for Tesla, which is a cautionary signal despite the strong growth rate forecasts.

2.1 Earnings and Revenue Growth Forecasts
This chart projects Tesla’s revenue and earnings trajectory from 2023 through 2028. The trend shows both revenue and earnings expected to climb significantly over the next 3 years — with analysts forecasting a strong upward curve in earnings particularly from 2026 onwards.

December 31, 2026 analysts forecast:

Dec 31 2026		Analysts	Last Updated
Revenue	US$102.771b/yr	44	Apr 10 2026
Earnings	US$4.982b/yr	30	Apr 10 2026

2.2 Analyst Future Growth Forecasts
Here’s how Tesla’s forecast growth compares against the industry and broader market:

	Tesla	Industry	Market
Annual Earnings Growth	34.3%	35.3%	15.6%
Annual Revenue Growth	16.4%	15.4%	10.5%

What this tells us:

• Tesla’s earnings growth (34.1% per year) is above the savings rate (3.4%)
• Tesla’s earnings are forecast to grow faster than the US market (15.6% per year)
• Tesla’s earnings are expected to grow significantly over the next 3 years
• Tesla’s revenue (15.4% per year) is forecast to grow faster than the US market (10.5% per year)
• Tesla’s revenue (15.4% per year) is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year

2.3 Earnings Per Share Growth Forecasts
This chart tracks Tesla’s EPS growth trajectory from actual past performance into analyst forecasts through 2028. The forecast range widens significantly into the future — reflecting the uncertainty analysts have about Tesla’s exact earnings path, but the overall direction is upward.

• EPS (Dec 31, 2020): $1.02
• Analyst EPS Range: Broad — reflecting the disagreement among the 57 analysts covering Tesla

2.4 Future Return on Equity
Return on Equity (ROE) measures how efficiently a company uses shareholder money to generate profit. Tesla’s future ROE in 3 years is forecast at:

• Tesla: 9.8%
• Industry: 4.7%

While Tesla edges out the industry, a 9.8% ROE is considered low — meaning Tesla isn’t expected to be highly efficient at converting shareholder equity into profits over the next 3 years. This is flagged as a risk by SWS.

2.5 Discover Growth Companies
Just like in the Valuation tab, SWS suggests high growth alternatives in the same industry — highlighting Hesai Group, Dongfeng Motor Group and Dauch as high growth companies in the Automobiles industry worth exploring.

Step 7: Past Tab

The Past tab answers a straightforward but important question: has Tesla actually delivered real results over time?

It looks at the company’s track record—things like revenue growth, profits, and consistency—to show whether Tesla has followed through in the past, not just made promises. In simple terms, it helps you see if the business has truly performed or just looked good on paper.

Past Performance Score: 2/6
Tesla only passes 2 out of 6 past performance checks — the weakest score we’ve seen so far. Here’s the key data at a glance:

• Earnings Growth Rate: 10.89% per year
• EPS Growth Rate: 9.72% per year
• Auto Industry Growth: 23.94%
• Revenue Growth Rate: 17.17%
• Return on Equity: 4.65%
• Net Margin: 4.00%
• Next Earnings Update: April 22, 2026

Recent Past Performance Updates:

• Tesla to report Q1 2026 results on April 22, 2026
• Full year 2025 earnings: EPS missed analyst expectations
• Tesla to report Q4 2025 results on January 28, 2026
• Third quarter 2025 earnings: Revenue beat expectations while EPS lagged behind

3.1 Revenue & Expenses Breakdown
This chart shows how Tesla makes and spends money based on its most recent reported earnings on a trailing twelve month (TTM) basis. It breaks down revenue streams across Automotive, Energy Generation and other segments — while showing how costs like Cost of Sales, Operating Expenses and R&D eat into profits over time from 2016 through 2025.

The visual makes it easy to see that while Tesla’s revenue has grown dramatically over the years, expenses have grown alongside it — keeping profit margins relatively thin.

3.2 Earnings and Revenue History
Sept 30, 2023:

• Revenue: $95.924B (1yr)
• Earnings: $10.791B (1yr)
• Free Cash Flow: $3.714(1yr)
• Profit Margin: 11.3%

The chart shows Tesla’s revenue has grown consistently from 2018 to 2023 — a positive long term trend. However earnings growth has been much bumpier, reflecting Tesla’s ongoing struggle to convert massive revenue into consistent profits.

SWS flags two key points:

• Quality Earnings — Tesla has high quality earnings
• Shrinking Profit Margin — Tesla’s current net profit margin (11.3%) is higher than last year (7.3%)

3.3 Free Cash Flow vs Earnings Analysis
This waterfall chart breaks down exactly how Tesla gets from earnings to free cash flow:

• Earnings: $3.79B
• Depreciation & Amortization: $6.15B
• Stock Based Compensation: $2.83B
• Net Working Capital: $776.00m
• Others: $7.32B
• Free Cash Flow: $6.22B (shown in red — negative)

Free cash flow is one of the most important measures of financial health — it shows how much actual cash a company generates after expenses. The gap between earnings and free cash flow here is worth monitoring.

3.4 Past Earnings Growth Analysis
Here’s how Tesla’s historical earnings growth compares:

	Tesla	Industry	Market
Past 5 Years Annual Growth	10.9%	-7.3%	8.2%
Last 1 Year Growth	-46.8%	-36.2%	11.6%

Tesla has grown earnings at 10.9% per year over the past 5 yfears — beating both the industry and market. However the last 1 year tells a very different story without earnings declining by 46.8% — worse than the industry decline of 36.2%.

SWS flags three key points:

• Earnings Trend — Tesla’s earnings have grown by 10.9% per year over the past 5 years
• Deteriorating Growth — Tesla has had negative earnings growth over the past year
• Earnings vs Industry — Tesla had negative earnings growth (-46.6%) over the past year making it difficult to compare to the Auto industry average (-36.2%)

3.5 Return on Equity
Return on Equity measures how well Tesla uses shareholder money to generate profit:

• Tesla ROE: 4.7%
• Industry ROE: 4.7%

Tesla matches the industry average but SWS flags this as low — meaning Tesla isn’t generating strong returns on the money shareholders have invested.

3.6 Return on Assets
Return on Assets measures how efficiently Tesla uses its total assets to generate profit:

• Tesla ROA: 1.8%
• Industry ROA: 3.0%

Tesla marginally edges out the industry but both figures are low — suggesting the company isn’t yet converting its massive asset base into strong profits efficient

Step 8: Health Tab

3.7 Return on Capital Employed
Before diving into the Health tab fully, SWS wraps up the Past tab with one final metric — Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). This measures how efficiently Tesla generates profit from its total capital:

• ROCE Last Year: 4.1%
• ROCE 3 Years Ago: 24.6%

Tesla’s ROCE has dropped significantly from 24% three years ago to just 4.1% today — a sharp decline that signals the company is generating far less profit per dollar of capital employed than it used to.

Financial Health Score: 6/6
This is Tesla’s strongest score across the entire platform — a perfect 6 out of 6. Tesla’s balance sheet is in excellent shape. Here’s the summary:

• Debt to Equity Ratio: 9.84%
• Total Debt: $8.15B
• Interest Coverage Ratio: -3.2x
• Cash: $44.06B
• Equity: $82.87B
• Total Liabilities: $54.94B
• Total Assets: $137.81B

Tesla has a total shareholder equity of $82.9B and total debt of $8.2B — bringing its debt to equity ratio to just 9.8%. Its total assets and liabilities are $137.8B and $54.9B respectively. Tesla’s EBIT is $4.4B giving it an interest coverage ratio of -3.2x.

4.1 Financial Position Analysis

This chart compares Tesla’s assets vs liabilities in both the short and long term:

Short Term:

• Assets: $68.64B
• Liabilities: $31.7B
• Tesla’s short term assets ($68.6B) exceed its short term liabilities ($31.7B)

Long Term:

• Assets: $89.16B
• Liabilities: $23.23B
• Tesla’s short term assets ($68.6B) also exceed its long term liabilities ($23.2B)

Both checks pass — Tesla has more than enough assets to cover both its short and long term obligations. A very healthy sign.

4.2 Debt to Equity History and Analysis
This chart tracks Tesla’s debt and equity from 2016 through 2025. The story it tells is remarkable — Tesla carried significant debt in its early years but has steadily grown its equity while keeping debt flat and low.

Dec 31, 2025:

• Debt: $8.153
• Equity: $82.865
• Debt/Equity Ratio: 9.8%

SWS flags four green checks here:

• Debt Level — Tesla has more cash than its total debt
• Reducing Debt — Tesla’s debt to equity ratio has reduced from 43.0% to 9.8% over the past 5 years
• Debt Coverage — Tesla’s debt is well covered by operating cash flow (180.9%)
• Interest Coverage — Tesla earns more interest than it pays so coverage of interest payments is not a concern

4.3 Balance Sheet
The balance sheet gives you a full picture of what Tesla owns and what it owes:

Assets:

• Physical Assets: $56.2B
• Cash & Short Term Investments: $44.1B
• Long Term & Other Assets: $20.5B

Liabilities & Equity:

• Equity: $82.9B
• Accounts Payable: (shown)
• Other Liabilities: $33.4B
• Accounts Payable: $13.4B

The balance sheet confirms what the scores show — Tesla is sitting on a strong asset base with manageable liabilities and solid equity. The Health tab is clearly Tesla’s strongest area on Simply Wall St.

Step 9: Dividend Tab

The Dividend tab answers a simple question: does Tesla actually pay shareholders—and can you count on those payments?

It looks at whether the company pays dividends, how much it pays, and how consistent those payments have been over time. In simple terms, it helps you see if you’re getting regular income from the stock—or if it’s purely about growth.

Dividend Score: 0/6
Tesla scores 0 out of 6 on dividend checks — and the reason is simple. Tesla does not have a record of paying a dividend. All dividend metrics show n/a across the board:

• Dividend Yield: n/a
• Buyback Yield: -0.09%
• Total Shareholder Yield: -0.09%
• Future Dividend Yield: 0%
• Dividend Growth: n/a
• Next Dividend Pay Date: n/a
• Dividend Per Share: n/a
• Payout Ratio: n/a

A negative buyback yield actually means Tesla has been diluting shareholders rather than buying back shares — which ties back to the risk we flagged earlier in the Overview tab.

5.1 Stability and Growth of Payments
As of December 31, 2029 the forecast shows:

• Dividend Payments: No data
• Annual Amount: $0/year
• Dividend Yield: 0%/year

SWS flags two warnings here:

• Stable Dividend — Insufficient data to determine if Tesla’s dividends per share have been stable
• Growing Dividend — Insufficient data to determine if Tesla’s dividend payments have been increasing

Simply put — there’s nothing to analyze here because Tesla has never paid a dividend.

5.2 Dividend Yield vs Market
For context SWS shows what dividend paying companies in the market look like:

• Market Bottom 25%: 1.4%
• Market Top 25%: 4.2%
• Industry Average: 2.6%
• Tesla: n/a
• Forecast (up to 3 years): 0%

Tesla can’t be compared here since it hasn’t reported any recent payouts. If dividends are important to your investment strategy Tesla is simply not the stock for you — at least not right now.

5.3 Earnings Payout to Shareholders
No data available. SWS cannot calculate Tesla’s payout ratio to determine if dividend payments are covered by earnings — because no dividends have been paid.

5.4 Cash Payout to Shareholders
Tesla’s cash payout sits at 0% — confirming the platform cannot calculate dividend sustainability as Tesla has not reported any payouts.

5.5 Discover Strong Dividend Paying Companies
If dividends matter to you SWS suggests strong dividend paying alternatives in the US market including Peoples Bancorp, Columbia Banking System and First Interstate BancSystem — all with healthy dividend yields above 5%.

Quick Takeaway on Tesla’s Dividends
Tesla is a growth stock — it reinvests its money back into the business rather than paying shareholders. If you’re investing in Tesla you’re betting on price appreciation, not income. If passive income through dividends is your goal, Tesla is not the right fit.

Step 10: Management Tab

The Management tab answers an important question: who’s actually running Tesla—and can they be trusted to make smart decisions with your money?

It looks at the leadership team, their experience, and how well they’ve performed over time. In simple terms, it helps you figure out whether the people in charge know what they’re doing—or if that’s a risk you need to think about.

Management Score: 2/4
Tesla passes 2 out of 4 management checks. Here’s the key information at a glance:

• CEO: Elon Musk — Chief Executive Officer
• Total Compensation: n/a
• CEO Salary Percentage: n/a
• CEO Tenure: 17.5 years
• CEO Ownership: 24.9%
• Management Average Tenure: 9.8 years
• Board Average Tenure: 8.8 years

Elon Musk was appointed in October 2008 and directly owns 24.86% of Tesla’s shares worth $323.39B — making him one of the most invested CEOs of any major company in the world. When a CEO owns that much of the company, their interests are heavily aligned with shareholders.

Recent Management Updates
SWS flags several concerning insider activity updates:

• ⚠️ Independent Director notifies of intention to sell stock — Apr 07
• ⚠️ Independent Director notifies of intention to sell stock — Feb 28
• ⚠️ Independent Director notifies of intention to sell stock — Jan 04
• ⚠️ Director recently sold $26M worth of stock — Dec 13
• ⚠️ Chief Financial Officer notifies of intention to sell stock — Dec 16

Multiple insiders notifying their intention to sell is worth paying attention to — it doesn’t always signal trouble but it’s a pattern that deserves monitoring.

6.1 CEO Compensation Analysis
As of June 30, 2024:

• Total Compensation: No data
• Salary: No data
• Company Earnings: $12.61B/yr

The compensation chart tracks Elon Musk’s total compensation history from 2020 to 2025 — peaking significantly around 2022-2023 before declining. SWS flags two warnings:

• ⚠️ Compensation vs Market — Insufficient data to establish whether Elon’s total compensation is reasonable compared to companies of similar size in the US market
• ⚠️ Compensation vs Earnings — Insufficient data to compare Elon’s compensation with company performance

6.2 CEO Profile
Elon Musk, age 54 — Tenure: 17.5 years

Beyond Tesla, Musk serves as CEO of X.AI Holdings Corp from March 2025, Executive Chairman of X Corp formerly Twitter from June 2023 and was its CTO from June 2023. His extensive commitments across multiple major companies is a risk factor some investors consider when evaluating Tesla’s leadership focus.

6.3 Leadership Team
Here’s Tesla’s core leadership team:

Name	Position	Tenure	Compensation	Ownership
Elon Musk	Co-Founder	17.5yrs	No data	24.86% / $320.2B
Vaibhav Taneja	Chief Financial Officer	2.7yrs	$159.47M	0.0034% / $44.9M
Xiaotong Zhu	SVP APAC & Global Vehicle	3yrs	$518.25K	0.0018%

• Management Average Tenure: 9.8 years
• Average Age: 50.5 years
• Experienced Management — Tesla’s management team is seasoned and experienced at 9.8 years average tenure

6.4 Board Members
Tesla’s board includes:

Name	Position	Tenure	Ownership
Elon Musk	Co-Founder	22yrs	24.86% / $320.2B
Ira Ehrenpreis	Independent Director	18.9yrs	0.023% / $293.7M
James Murdoch	Independent Director	8.8yrs	0.020%

• Board Average Tenure: 8.8 years
• Average Age: 54 years
• Experienced Board — Tesla’s board of directors is considered experienced at 8.8 years average tenure

Step 11: Ownership Tab

The Ownership tab answers a key question: who actually owns Tesla—and are the people closest to the company buying more or cashing out?

It looks at how shares are split between insiders, institutions, and everyday investors, and tracks whether insiders are buying or selling. In simple terms, it helps you see where the confidence is—whether those closest to the business are doubling down or stepping back.

7.1 Recent Insider Transactions
This table shows the most recent insider buying and selling activity:

Date	Action	Value	Name	Shares	Max Price
09 Dec 25	Sell	$25,606,501	Kimbal Musk	56,820	$450.66
12 Sep 25	Buy	$999,959,042	Elon Musk	2,568,732	$396.36
11 Sep 25	Sell	$7,275,100	Xiaotong Zhu	20,000	$363.76
24 Apr 25	Buy	$1,025,232	Joseph Gebbia	4,000	$256.31

The standout transaction here is Elon Musk purchasing nearly $1 billion worth of Tesla shares in September 2025 — a massive vote of confidence from the CEO. However Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, sold over $25M worth of shares shortly after. Mixed signals from insiders.

Insider Trading Volume
Looking at the trading volume breakdown over the past 12 months:

• 0–3 months: No activity
• 3–6 months: 56,820 shares sold (~$25.6M) by 1 individual
• 6–9 months: 20,000 shares sold (~$7.3M) vs 2,568,752 shares bought (~$955.3M) — dominated by Elon Musk’s massive purchase
• 9–12 months: 4,000 shares bought (~$1M)

Insider Buying: Insufficient data to determine if insiders have bought more shares than they have sold in the past 3 months.

7.2 Ownership Breakdown
Here’s who owns Tesla:

• Institutions: 42.9% — 1,609,640,835 shares
• General Public: 32.1% — 1,203,835,585 shares
• Individual Insiders: 24.9% — 935,292,994 shares
• State or Government: 0.0819% — 3,071,394 shares
• Private Companies: 0.0126% — 471,178 shares

Institutional investors hold the largest chunk at 42.9% — meaning big money funds like Vanguard and BlackRock have significant influence over Tesla’s stock price. Individual insiders at 24.9% is unusually high for a company of this size — driven almost entirely by Elon Musk’s ownership stake.

Dilution of Shares — Shareholders have been diluted in the past year with total shares outstanding growing by 16.7% — this is a red flag as it means each share you hold represents a smaller piece of the company over time.

7.3 Top Shareholders
The top 25 shareholders own 53.55% of Tesla. Here are the biggest:

Ownership	Name	Shares	Current Value	Change %
24.9%	Elon Musk	932,896,013	$320.2B	+83.2%
6.9%	The Vanguard Group	258,925,024	$88.9B	+2.59%
5.57%	BlackRock, Inc.	209,129,994	$71.8B	+1.36%
3.06%	State Street Global Advisors	114,842,934	$39.4B	+0.95%
1.75%	Geode Capital Management	65,700,975	$22.6B	+0.58%
1.4%	Capital Research and Management	52,470,374	$18.0B	-4.43%
1.01%	Norges Bank Investment Management	38,086,143	$13.1B	+2.18%
0.95%	JP Morgan Asset Management	35,604,632	$12.2B	+5.57%

Elon Musk’s ownership at 24.9% dwarfs every other shareholder — his $320.2B stake has grown by 83.2%. The presence of Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street as major shareholders is a positive signal — these are the world’s largest and most reputable institutional investors.

Step 12: Information Tab

The Information tab is the behind the scenes section of Simply Wall St — it gives you all the factual background about Tesla as a company and shows you exactly where SWS gets its data from.

8.1 Key Information
Here’s Tesla’s basic company profile:

• Name: Tesla, Inc.
• Ticker: TSLA
• Exchange: NasdaqGS
• Founded: 2003
• Industry: Automobile Manufacturers
• Sector: Automobiles
• Market Cap: $1.881T
• Shares Outstanding: 3.19B
• Website: https://www.tesla.com

8.2 Number of Employees
As of December 31, 2023 Tesla had approximately 140k employees. The chart tracks Tesla’s employee growth from 2016 through 2025 — showing a dramatic rise that reflects the company’s rapid expansion over the past decade before leveling off more recently.

8.3 Location
Tesla’s headquarters is located at:

• 1 Tesla Road, Austin, Texas 78725, United States

Tesla relocated its headquarters from California to Texas in 2021 — home to its massive Giga Texas manufacturing facility.

8.4 Listings
Tesla is listed across multiple global exchanges — making it accessible to investors worldwide:

Ticker	Exchange	Currency	Listed On
TSLA	NasdaqGS (Reading Global Select)	USD	Jun 2010
TL0	DB Deutsche Boerse AG	EUR	Jun 2010
TL0	XTRA (XETRA Trading Platform)	EUR	Jun 2010
TSLA	BMV (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores)	MXN	Jun 2010
TSLA	SWX (Swiss Exchange)	CHF	Jun 2010
0R6X	LSE (London Stock Exchange)	GBD	Jun 2010
ITSLA	BIT (Borsa Italiana)	EUR	Jun 2010
TSLA	WBAG (Wiener Boerse AG)	EUR	Jun 2010

Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
SWS keeps its data fresh and transparent about when it was last updated:

• Company Analysis: 2026/04/09 22:38
• End of Day Share Price: 2026/04/09 05:00
• Earnings: 2025/12/31
• Annual Earnings: 2025/12/31

Data Sources
All data used in SWS’s analysis comes from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. Here’s a breakdown of what data is used and how far back it goes:

Package	Data	Timeframe
Company Financials	Income statement, Cash flow, Balance sheet	10 years
Analyst Consensus Estimates	Forecast financials, Price targets	3 years
Market Prices	Stock prices, Dividends, Splits	30 years
Ownership	Top shareholders, Insider trading	10 years
Management	Leadership team, Board of directors	10 years
Key Developments	Company announcements	10 years

Analyst Sources
Tesla is covered by 83 analysts — 44 of whom submitted estimates used directly in SWS’s report. Key analysts include:

• William Selesky — Argus Research Company
• Theodore O’Neill — Ascendant Capital Markets LLC
• Benjamin Kallo — Board

Analyst Model and Snowflake
SWS’s analysis model is available on their GitHub page with guides and tutorials on YouTube. This level of transparency is rare — it means you can actually verify how the Snowflake scores are calculated if you want to dig deeper.

Conclusion

Analyzing a stock with Simply Wall St is already straightforward — but walking through it step by step with real data makes it even easier to understand.

By using Tesla as our example, we’ve covered every section of the platform from the Overview all the way through to the Information tab — breaking down exactly what each section means and how to interpret the numbers in front of you.

The goal was never just to show you how to analyze Tesla. It was to give you the confidence to open Simply Wall St, search any stock you’re interested in, and know exactly what you’re looking at.

Now you have that. You know how to read the Snowflake, interpret the valuation, assess future growth, evaluate financial health, and understand who owns and runs the company — all the information you need to make better, more informed investment decisions.

So go ahead — head over to Simply Wall St and start analyzing your next stock with confidence.