Tesla experienced a big surge in its share price on Monday, overtaking the venerable Ford Motor Co in market value, and prompting founder, CEO and major shareholder Elon Musk to taunt the many short sellers in the electric vehicle, solar and storage company.
Stormy weather in Shortville …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2017
The stock jumped 7 per cent on Monday, to $US298.52, taking its market value to $US48 billion ($A63 billion), overtaking Ford, which sits at $US48 billion. It is now just short of the $US51 billion market cap of General Motors.
According to CNBC the jump in share price came after Tesla indicated it is on track to meet or beat expectations for the first half of 2017, as it moves closer to beginning production on its much-anticipated Model 3 sedan in July.
According to FactSet, about 31 million shares of Tesla, or about 19 per ent of the float, are sold short. And, as CNBC noted, this isn’t the first time Musk has trolled short sellers — he also referred to the weather in “Shortville” in 2013.
And, just to rub in the jump in share price over Ford, Musk tweeted:
Model 3 was going to be called Model E, for obvious dumb humor reasons, but Ford sued to block it, so now it is S3X. Totally different 🙂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017
