Cars and Drivers

Tesla's Short Interest Almost Triples to Over 52 Million

Chris Lange

Published: February 10, 2021 9:53 am

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) saw its short interest shrink into the most recent settlement date. However, the number of shares short was still roughly triple that a year ago.

Short sellers reduced their positions in the two-week period ending on January 29 to 52.38 million. In the previous period, 56.37 million shares were short.

A year ago, just 18.39 million Tesla shares were sold short. One contributing factor to the rise over the past year has been that Tesla has issued millions of shares in secondary offerings and even conducted a stock split. Furthermore, the stock has risen about 451% over the past 52 weeks.

Tesla stock currently has an average daily volume of 42.62 million shares, so it would take short sellers more than 2.2 days to cover their positions.

Going forward, Tesla is making an interesting case for investment by adding $1.5 billion in bitcoin to its balance sheet. Many investors wrapped up in the bitcoin trade are long on the cryptocurrency, while others believe that it will fall flat.

At the same time, Tesla is looking to design a more affordable EV for consumers. The firm has targeted a price point of $25,000, which in turn will undercut prices at many other auto companies looking to develop in this field.

Tesla stock traded down about 1% Tuesday morning to $840.17. The 52-week range is $70.10 to $900.40, and the consensus price target is $610.34.

Note that short sellers bought into FAANG stocks Facebook and Amazon in the most recent period.

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