Friday found an extraordinary flurry of Tweets from one of the world’s most influential industrialists. What’s Elon Musk Telling us with his Tesla Twitter Tirade, and do we give a damn?
When Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla speaks, the world listens. Whether a fan of the eccentric, and arguably off-planet brainiac, or not, one is hard pressed to argue that Elon Musk, the force behind the electric car revolution does not merit a close listen.
Friday found the eccentric innovator downgrading Tesla Motors stock with a Tweet, or did he?
Reading between the lines of Friday Elon Musk headlines
O.K.,there may be a lot more to it! But… what’s actually going on here? Within 2 or 3 hours of the Twitter blast, comes speculation that Elon’s Twitter feed was hacked, could be. But then again, this is not the first time Elon Musk has acted out of sorts. In fact, at Tesla, Elon’s erratic behavior is expected, if not appreciated. It’s simply referred to as “ Going Elon.”
Reading Elon’s Tweet: Fundamentally, and I’m referring to stock valuation principles, Tesla stock is “overloaded,” trading way above value. So yes, his comment is spot on. But why devalue one’s own holdings?
Prior to Elon’s Tweet , stating that Tesla stock is overpriced, TSLA (Tesla Motors Nasdaq) marked a daily high of 772.77 per share, falling to 701.32 at Friday’s close — A hair cut of -10.03% ,or – $13B for the day. It may be noted that Tesla Motors is more often than not the most short traded automotive stock in the Automotive industry. Yet to show a profit, Tesla was on track to do so in 2020. The Covid19 pandemic financial impact will most likely evaporate the gain on the year, with Tesla production currently on hold.
What was Elon Musk’s motivation to derail the run up? * TSLA shows a 52 week high of 968 per share.As it is, Tesla Motors is currently trading at ten times value — the most overvalued automotive stock in North America. Perhaps’ Musk is attempting to rein in speculation a bit, while staging Tesla for profitability in a burgeoning near future electric vehicle market. Or, driving down the price for future stock buy-backs.
This is not the first time Musk has manipulated Tesla stock value via Twitter. The last manipulation resulted in a $40 million fine — peanuts when shaving $ billions off of near future market value. I wonder who caught the “short” on this downtrend?
Is Musk having a nervous breakdown, or a revelation?
Elon Musk is the 3rd wealthiest man in the world, based on his ownership of SpaceX and Tesla stock. As of last Wednesday, the magic number was + $30 billion or so — that’’s massive personal wealth. It may be assumed that a person in Musk’s financial influence position is privy to some information that “we the people” are not.
Musk remains very verbal in regard to the Covid19 pandemic lockdown, demanding that the U.S. government return “freedom” to the people. I’ll assume he’s pointing to “stay at home, save lives” mandates, and commerce closure and disruption in most states of the Union. Or, he may know more than we do. Is the United States government of Trump controlling the populace? And if so, to what end?
Elon Musk: Rage: “ Rage against the dying of the light of consciousness,”
Yes, there would seem to be much of that going on. This week there’s no shortage of Covid19 conspiracy related theories circulating the world wide web. False testing results, Trumped-up case and death numbers, and extreme government control allegations. All, as global and domestic economies meltdown rivaling Great Depression hardship benchmarks.
Today Musk took a $3 billion haircut on his Tesla Motors stock shares. I’m not sure he gives a damn. In yet another Tweet, Musk stated that his girlfriend is angry, and that he’s selling all his Earthly possessions, including his house (apparently he only has one,) stating that he will no longer own a house. And, “Rage against the dying of the light of consciousness.”
I’m not sure what that means, but I like it. Perhaps he’s watched one too many Trump Covid19 updates, could be. Is Elon Musk throwing a tantrum, or does he have some insight and wisdom to share with us? Then again, this may be yet another attempt to take the publicly held Tesla Motors Private.
Elon Musk Image attribute: CNBC.Com 2020
