Tesla shares bounce back following Elon Musk email to staff
Tesla shares made a recovery Thursday following an email CEO Elon Musk sent to employees saying the auto company was on track this quarter to beat the previous record for deliveries was leaked on social media and news outlets.
In the email sent late Wednesday, Musk hinted that his company was on pace for a record-breaking quarter on deliveries that will top the 90,700 made in Q4 2018, Reuters reported. The CEO said Tesla had over 50,000 net new orders this quarter as of Tuesday, but the company needed to keep producing 1,000 Model 3 cars per day for the rest of the quarter to reach its goal.
Tesla is producing an average of 900 Model 3 cars per day and inching closer to its goal of producing 7,000 vehicles per week, Musk wrote.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 357.09 | +11.93 | +3.46% |
The leaked email was widely shared on social media after Tesla shares opened to a 3 percent drop before rebounding within an hour. Thursday broke a six-day losing streak for Tesla shares as trading was up 2.5 percent to $197.61.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures, told Fox Business that he was encouraged to hear the positive delivery projections.
“I was encouraged to hear Musk’s comments on deliveries," Munster said. "2019 will be a choppy year but much greener pastures are ahead.”
The electric car maker’s shares have dropped more than 50 percent since September 2018. Morgan Stanley analysts slashed their worst-case scenario for Tesla stock from $97 to just $10 a share on Tuesday.
“Demand is at the heart of the problem,” Analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note. “Tesla has grown too big relative to near-term demand, putting great strain on fundamentals.”
Analysts, including Jonas, wrote in a note that they decreased the “bear case” for the electric car company assuming Tesla missed “our current Chinese volume forecast.”
“Our revised bear case assumes Tesla misses our current Chinese volume forecast by roughly half to account for the highly volatile trade situation in the region, particularly around areas of technology, which we believe run a high and increasing risk of government/regulatory attention,” the note read.
Elon Musk wrote an email to employees saying Tesla was on track to beat its previous record for deliveries this quarter. (AP)
Musk said last week that he would personally review Tesla’s expenses in an effort to trim costs.
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In a previous email to employees, Musk said executives, including the CFO and Musk himself, would implement a "hardcore" cost-cutting program. Musk said the move was necessary because the company's first-quarter cash burn rate implies Tesla has just 10 months to break even.
Fox Business' Kathleen Joyce, Matt Richardson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.