Tesla shorts decline dramatically, says S3 Partners

 The short interest in electric-car maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has fallen sharply in the past week as some investors apparently liquidated their positions after prices of the stock rose, according to a tweet from analytics company S3 Partners Wednesday.

Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3′s managing director of predictive analytics, said the short interest in the company at this time is worth $9.96 billion and the number of shares shorted stood at 33.1 million, accounting for 25.95% of the float.

“Tesla shares shorted decreased by 566,000 over the last week as Tesla’s stock price rose over $20/share & shorts were down – $695 million in mark-to-market losses (down – $570 million year-to-date 2018,” his tweet said.

$TSLA short interest $9.96 billion, 33.09 million shares shorted, 25.95% of float. #Tesla shares shorted decreased by 566k over the last week as $TSLA‘s stock price rose over $20/share & shorts were down -$695 million in mark-to-market losses (down -$570 mm year-to-date 2018). pic.twitter.com/A92M2Wbwr8

— Ihor Dusaniwsky (@ihors3) 26 de setembre de 2018

Shares of Tesla were trading at $310.93, up 3.3% for the day.

In a tweet on September 20, Dusaniwsky said short interest in the stock was at $10.6 billion, up $668 million in September as Tesla’s $5 drop in price was offset by more shares being shorted.

$TSLA shares shorted is 35.43mm .. it hit 35.44mm on 7/25; 35.45mm on 7/9; 35.52mm on 6/20; and the real jump to 37.94mm on 6/19 https://t.co/JIMsgUEKEh

— Ihor Dusaniwsky (@ihors3) 20 de setembre de 2018

$TSLA short interest is $10.595 billion, 35.43 million shares shorted, 27.79% of float. Shares shorted are up 743k shares over the last week. Previous chart was not updated. pic.twitter.com/L8kthRAVls

— Ihor Dusaniwsky (@ihors3) 20 de setembre de 2018

 

Tesla has been engulfed in controversy after CEO Elon Musk announced in a separate tweet in early August that he planned to take company private and that funding for the plan had been “secured.”The plan was eventually abandoned by Musk.

Tesla and Musk are under investigation by US regulators and officials, with some investors suing the company for misleading investors.

In other news, Bloomberg reported that Tesla’s former head of human resources suggested to Musk that two employees who supported forming a union be given positions that could prevent them from advocating for a union.

Story by ProactiveInvestors