short

Following Tesla’s (TSLA) acquisition offer to SolarCity (SCTY) last week, the automaker’s stock price fell sharply, but while the market tumbled after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union the next day, the stocks of both companies outperform the market – indicating some resistance.

Now we learn that Wall Street is betting big against the companies as short interest is close to all time high and short sellers are out of shares to borrow.
Expand
Expanding
Close

The last time Elon Musk commented on the short interest on Tesla’s stock, he warned that anyone holding a stock position against the company will have a “tsunami of hurt” coming for them. During the 12 following months, Tesla’s stock price increased by 461%, a lot of which was attributed to a short squeeze after Tesla reported its first quarterly profit in Q1 2013.

Today as short interest on Tesla is close to an all-time high, Musk commented on it again. Though he was more cautious in his choice of words than last time – so maybe not a tsunami 2.0. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

According to Nasdaq’s latest short interest update, the total short position on Tesla’s stock increased to 27,367,931 shares – its highest since March 2014. The short position is almost as important as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own stake in the company: 28,371,342 shares or about 29% of the float.

Expand
Expanding
Close