Tesla shares shorted have increased by 1.12 million shares
Short selling in Tesla Inc. stock has been on the rise in recent sessions as the stock looks poised to end a four-day losing streak.
Tesla TSLA, +2.73% shares gained 1.7% in midday trading Thursday, and are down about 10% since last Thursday, when the company announced a $35,000 Model 3.
Tesla shares shorted have risen by 4.4%, or 1.12 million shares, S3 Partners, a financial technology and analytics firm, said Thursday.
“Short sellers have been relatively quiet for the month of February and early March, with short activity picking up only this week,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, a managing director at S3 Partners, in a note Thursday.
“Shares shorted are bouncing off levels we have not seen since 2015, and if Tesla’s price weakness continues we should see an acceleration of the increase of short sale activity we saw this week,” he said.
Tesla short sellers are up $327 million in mark-to-market profits in March, including $148 million in mark-to-market losses today as the stock has rebounded, S3 Partners said.
Tesla shares have been under pressure since the company announced the cheaper Model 3 and said it was shifting its sales worldwide to online only, closing stores and laying off more workers. Tesla also said it is unlikely it would report a profit in the first quarter.
That stoked demand fears, and the shares recently closed at a four-month low.
The stock has lost 16% in the past 12 months, contrasting with gains around 1% for the S&P 500 index. SPX, -0.21%