Tesla Short Interest More Than Doubles

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Tesla Short Interest More Than Doubles

© Jag_cz / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) reported its most recent quarterly results after the markets closed on Wednesday, about the time the most recent short interest data for the stock was posted.

Short sellers reduced their positions on the stock for the two-week period ending on January 15 to 56.37 million. In the previous period, 60.62 million were short.

Note that Tesla’s short interest has more than doubled from a year ago, when it was 24.95 million shares. One of the contributing factors to that rise over the past year has been that Tesla has issued millions of shares in secondary offerings and even conducted a stock split.

At the same time, the stock has risen about 662% over the past 52 weeks.

[nativounit]

Tesla stock currently has an average daily volume of 43.77 million shares, so it would take short sellers about 1.3 days to cover their positions.

In terms of its earnings, the electric vehicle giant said that it had $0.80 in earnings per share (EPS) and $10.74 billion in revenue. That compared with consensus estimates of $1.01 in EPS and revenue of $10.32 billion.

During the quarter, revenues increased 22.5% sequentially and 46% year over year. This substantial growth arose from vehicle deliveries, as well as growth in other parts of the business. Also, the vehicle average selling price declined by 11% from the same period last year, as Tesla’s product mix continues to shift from Model S and Model X to the more affordable Model 3 and Model Y.

For the quarter, automotive sales increased 46% year over year to $9.31 billion, with a gross margin of 24.1%. Total deliveries came in at 180,667 for the quarter and 499,550 for the full year.

Tesla stock traded down more than 5% Thursday morning to $818.00. The 52-week range is $70.10 to $900.40, and the consensus price target is $553.28.

[recirclink id= 834428][wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618