Short sellers in the electric car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) beware. Elon Musk is not just taking them on via Twitter. This week, Musk, who is the company’s biggest shareholder, engaged in a bit of sabre rattling by adding tens of thousands of shares to his own stake in Tesla.
Tesla’s chief executive has bought 33,000 Tesla shares worth close to US$10mln, marking his most extensive stock purchase since March of 2017, according to a SEC filing.
Musk’s buying of shares comes just days after he took to Twitter to lambast short sellers who are taking bets against Tesla which has yet to earn a profit.
Looks like sooner than expected. The sheer magnitude of short carnage will be unreal. If you’re short, I suggest tiptoeing quietly to the exit … https://t.co/A0Q90pSLKA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2018
Some analysts are taking an increasingly bearish stance on Tesla, with Goldman Sachs saying that the Silicon Valley electric car maker is likely to have to tap capital markets this year, regardless of what it has told investors.
This month, the electric-car giant beat expectations with its first-quarter results in the face of looming concerns over its cash burn, huge debt pile and production issues.
Read: Tesla shares volatile on narrower-than-expected 1Q loss but concerns remain
Elon Musk’s company reported a loss of US$3.35 for the opening three months of 2018, narrower than the US$3.58 loss analysts had initially pencilled in.
Revenue for the quarter totaled US$3.41bn, beating the consensus estimate of US$3.22bn.
Tesla had hoped to be producing 2,500 Model 3s by the end of the quarter but was forced to backtrack on that as it grappled with production issues in its factory.
In early trade, Tesla shares were up slightly at US$305.53.