Tesla short-sellers extend their losses following share price surge
Investors betting against Tesla suffered losses of $1.5bn in mark-to-market losses after Tesla beat analyst estimates in its fourth quarter results last week.
Thursday’s losses bring Tesla shorts down $5.6bn in 2020 in mark-to-market losses, according to data provider S3 Partners.
Tesla is the largest short in the domestic market with short interest of $14.28bn.
Despite that, bets against the carmaker are on the decline. Short sellers decreased their exposure by 1.8m shares, a fall of 6.7 per cent, over the last 30 days.
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Tesla’s stock has more than doubled in value since it posted a third quarter profit last year, beating estimates for vehicle deliveries and ramped up production at its Gigafactory in China.
The value of the short-sellers positions fell further after shares in Tesla rose nearly 10 per cent to trade around $650 last week.
The electric car maker reported profit of $105m in the fourth quarter. It also said that revenue rose to $7.38bn (£5.67bn) from $7.23bn a year earlier, beating Wall Street’s forecast of $7.02bn.
Short sellers had been up $5.2bn in year-to-date mark-to-market profits as Tesla lost 46 per cent of its value and hit its year-to-date low of $178.97 last June. Since then shorts are down $12.83bn in mark-to-market losses.
In its analysis S3 Partners said: “Tesla’s short squeeze will probably shift into a higher gear as some short sellers re-evaluate their short thesis and begin to trim or close out their short exposure.”