Tesla Inc’s (TSLA) stock price had been dropping and its shares shorted were increasing for most of the first half of 2019. TSLA short sellers were up +$5.16 billion in mark-to-market net-of financing profits as of June 3rd when TSLA hit its year-to-date low of $178.97/share. In just over six months, TSLA shorts were $128 million shy of recouping their 2016-2018 mark-to-market losses of -$5.29 billion.
While there are several Electric Vehicles (EVs) being produced by Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) manufactures such as the Chevy Bolt, Ford Focus, Toyota Prius and the Nissan Leaf and there are many EV manufacturers such as Bollinger, Byton, Lucid and Polestar planning to deliver EV’s in the next few years there are only two major EV producers that are truly shortable – Nio Inc ADR (NIO US) and Tesla Inc (TSLA US). Both NIO and TSLA have been actively shorted in 2019 with positive year-to-date results.
Tesla short int is $9.48bn; 39.17mm shs shorted; 27.76% of float; 0.58% borrow fee. Shs shorted down -579k shs in Sept as price rose 7.3%; and up +424k, +1%, over the last week. Shorts are up +$2.44bn, +27.2%, in YTD mark-to-market profits, but down -$683mm, -7.4%, in Sept.
short interest is $8.9bn; 39.31 mm shs shorted; 29.62% of float; 0.73% borrow fee. Shares shorted have increased by +564k, +1.45% over the last month, but decreased by -373k,-0.94%, over the last week. Shorts are up +$3.02 billion in YTD mark-to-market profits, -$73mm in Sept.Â
Tesla Inc (TSLA) reported second quarter results after the market closed on Wednesday and although they delivered a quarter of record deliveries (95,356 vehicles), record production (87,048 vehicles), and strong revenues ($6.35 billion) they also reported a wider than expected loss of -$1.12 per share. Tesla is projecting positive net income for the third quarter and the opening of its Chinese production facility year end. Another negative announcement was the resignation of its founding engineer and CTO, J.B. Straubel, after 16 years of service at the company.
Tesla Inc (TSLA) closed the day down -2.69%, and down -14% month-to-date. TSLA shorts are up $1.07 billion in mark-to-market profits in May, making it one of their most profitable months since 2016. TSLA shorts are having a rebound year, up $3.88 billion in mark-to-market profits in less than five months in 2019 versus mark-to-market losses of -$1.40 billion in 2018, -$3.56 billion in 2017 and -$400 million in 2016.
Both Tesla Inc (TSLA) and NIO Inc (NIO) had reports of vehicles fires in Shanghai and Xi’an China which is highlighting safety fears over electric vehicles and the use of high density lithium batteries. TSLA is down -3.6% over the past two days while NIO is up slightly, +0.84%.
Tesla Inc (TSLA) is down 8.44% in mid-morning trading as car deliveries fell to 63,000 vehicles, down 27,966 vehicles, down 31%, from their fourth quarter number.
Tesla short interest is $9.04 billion; 30.99 million shares shorted; 24.49% of float; stock borrow cost is 0.30% fee.
We’re seeing increased short selling in the other Electric Vehicle manufacturer, NIO Inc (NIO) today.
NIO short interest is $420 mm; 84.40 mm shares shorted; 10.97% of float; 1.65% borrow fee.
Shares shorted are up 40.9 mm shares,+94%, in 2019 and up 24.8 mm shs,+41.7% in March and we are seeing continued short selling today, over one million additional shares shorted in morning trading.