‘Shark Tank’ host explains why he’s no longer a Tesla (TSLA) critic: ‘Sometimes you’re just wrong’

Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) growth has made believers out of some of the company’s most prominent skeptics. One of them is Shark Tank judge and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, who previously held critical opinions of Tesla’s potential as not just an automaker, but as a technology company.

On a recent segment of CNBC’s Halftime Report, O’Leary reiterated his belief in Tesla stock. The man popularly known as “Mr. Wonderful” noted that last summer, he bought TSLA stock due to a strong recommendation from his son, and he has never looked back.

“And then, watching you, Scott (the host of the Halftime Report) last July when TSLA was downgraded, I was with my son at the kitchen table watching you, and the stock was down something like 11 to 13%. He beat me up into buying some at $200 and change. I didn’t want to buy it. I did it for him because he had no money. I should pay him a royalty now. It’s my best performing stock over the last year. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

“I was a hater of Tesla for a long time, until I realized all the engineers want to work for Tesla. I ended up buying some, and now it’s my best performing stock. It’s not a car company, it’s a data company. It’s about autonomous driving” @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/PUf3kYe3Ac

— Third Row Tesla Podcast (@thirdrowtesla) May 6, 2020

When asked if he thinks TSLA stock is overvalued today as suggested by Elon Musk last week, O’Leary disagreed. The Shark Tank judge argued that Tesla is more than a car company and an energy company. Instead, Tesla is a technology and data company.

“Sometimes, you’re just wrong. No, it’s not overvalued. As Trevor said, do not consider it a car company. It is a technology-data company. Every mile driven globally, the data gets smarter; the resolution gets better. This company is all about the future of autonomous driving,” O’Leary stated.

Interestingly enough, O’Leary’s comments contradict those of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who stated that TSLA’s value was too high in a series of tweets last week. Despite the CEO’s sentiments, some of the most notable finance personalities in the industry, like O’Leary and Jim Cramer, have reinforced their belief that TSLA will continue to go up in price.

Tesla & SpaceX are the top two destinations for engineers, because you can have the most fun creating kickass technology! That’s why.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2020

O’Leary has stated in the past that when attending the high-performance EV races, he observed that engineers who worked on the cars would flock to Tesla employees who were at the track. This made a lasting impression on O’Leary, which proved to be among the reasons why he started supporting Tesla. Musk, for his part, noted in a recent tweet that engineers love working at SpaceX and Tesla since they “can have the most fun creating kick*ss technology!”

At the time of writing, TSLA is trading at $774.60 per share.

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