In light of today's breaking news on Tesla, IHS Markit analyst Sam Pierson released the following commentary.
In dollar terms, today’s price move took Tesla's equity short position above $13bn for the first time, the previous peak being $12.8bn on June 14th. The short interest equates to 20.7% of outstanding shares, down from a YTD peak of 23% observed in June. The short value is higher than any S&P 500 stock, only Under Armor has a higher percentage of outstanding shares short with 24%.
The short interest in TSLA hasn’t changed a ton over the last week since they reported earnings, we’ve seen ~700k reduction in shares short, leaving the total at just over 35m shares, well above the 31.5m shares observed the last time the share price was in the $370’s in mid-June.
