Elon Musk Raises Stake In Tesla

Elon Musk has bought US$9.85 million worth of Tesla stock, a regulatory filing has revealed. The SEC filing is dated this Monday, after Musk took to Twitter to mock traders who are short on the electric car company.

During Tesla’s first-quarter conference call, the chief executive of the company demonstrated marked impatience with analyst questions and doubts about Tesla’s prospects for the future, which sparked a certain amount of outrage in the media.

Tesla bears had a while to enjoy themselves as the stock declined after the conference call and the results announced by the company, which revealed that it continues to burn cash, but also continues to be upbeat about the future despite a variety of challenges. The stock price movement was later in the week reversed.

Following the conference call, Musk took to Twitter to explain why he shunned questions from two analysts, also taking the chance to take a verbal stab at bears with this Tweet. Tesla is currently the most shorted company in the United States.

Tesla booked higher than expected revenues and lower than expected operating losses for the first quarter of the year, leaving analysts confused again as to the future of the company.

At US$2.75 billion, Tesla’s automotive revenues were 27.4 percent higher on the year, which was a record high in the revenue department.

Related: U.S. Wind Energy Demand Surges

Operating losses, at US$3.35 per share, were lower than the US$3.48 loss per share analysts had expected. Net loss, however, came in at a record US$785 million, with the company projecting it will be back in black in the third and fourth quarter of the year.

Tesla will be cutting its budget for the year to US$3 billion from US$3.4 billion with the focus of all its efforts continuing to be the ramp up of production of the Model 3, which reached 2,270 in the third week of April, with production consistently exceeding 2,000 cars for each of the first three weeks of last month.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

• Oil Crashes Ahead Of Trump’s Iran Deal Decision
• The Future Of U.S. Oil Relies On A Single Play
• Why Oil Prices Are Likely To Go Higher