When Elon Musk caused a sharp drop in Tesla shares in mid-2018 and early 2019 with some out-of-tune tones, many criticized him, fearing the loss of value of their investments. But now these same investors must be jumping for joy when they see the trend in the price of the American manufacturer that yesterday broke the ceiling of $2,000 per share.
That means that in just one year, Tesla shares have increased in value by 847%. A figure that occurs during the collapse of the automobile market due to the coronavirus pandemic, which, as we see, not only has not affected Tesla in its valuation, but it seems that it has reinforced it.
Among the primary beneficiaries are the investors of Tesla, with Elon Musk at the head who has seen his fortune grow by no less than 8 million in just one day thanks to the increase in shares of 11% last Monday. It has him allowed to climb to the fourth place of the richest in the world according to the Forbes list that estimates a fortune of 84.8 million dollars.
But there are also victims, mainly those who have bet against Tesla with investments in short waiting for the shares’ fall. Investors who accumulate more than 19.8 million dollars wagered on the fall of the Palo Alto manufacturer, who are undoubtedly going through a wrong time with losses that only this year accumulate 20 million dollars. And it does not seem that things will improve with actions that alone this year accumulate an increase of 365%.
$TSLA short int is $19.87BN; 10.53MM shs shorted;7.10% of float;0.30% fee.Shs shorted down -2.15MM shs,-17%, over last 30 days as price rose +26% & down -637K shs,-6.%, last week. Shorts down -$23.67BN in 2020 mark-to-market losses; down -$83MM on today’s +0.42% move @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/9B5P4l1C2b
— Ihor Dusaniwsky (@ihors3) August 19, 2020
Even from Tesla, they have allowed themselves to launch a direct mockery of short-sellers, “shorts” in English, putting on sale a limited run of Tesla shorts that also had a price with a lot of meaning, 69 dollars.
About 420 cents remind us of the episode where Elon Musk himself proposed removing Tesla from the public stock market with the purchase of the shares with a price of 420 dollars when the value at that time did not exceed 350 dollars. A hard moment was a cataract of criticism even from the market regulator in the United States that condemned and fined him for that proposal that is so far away today. By the way, a pair of underpants was sold out in a matter of seconds despite their astronomical price.
Now it remains to be seen where Tesla shares will go if they will follow the trend that for many was impossible, or otherwise support the predictions of the most optimistic who estimated that the shares will be worth tens of thousands of dollars in a few years. Time will give and take reasons, but what is clear is that at least for now, betting against Elon Musk does not seem like a good idea.