Tesla share jump on cryptic tweet by Elon Musk
No stranger to leveraging his Twitter presence to maximize attention for his electric car company, Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk sent his company’s stock up 2.5% on Monday with a single, cryptic tweet.
“Really exciting @TeslaMotors announcement coming on Thursday. Am going to put my money where my mouth is in v major way,” Musk tweeted.
The markets noticed, sending Tesla shares up 91 cents to close at $37.53. Tesla shares are traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Just what Musk has up his sleeve remains a mystery.
Thursday’s announcement is almost certainly not product related. Production of the Model S sedan, which Highway 1 tested in February, is going full tilt at Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., facility. The company says it expects to build 20,000 units for 2013.
The next vehicle Tesla will make is the Model X crossover, for which the company has already started taking deposits. The Model X was originally slated to begin production in late 2013, but Tesla has pushed that date back to the end of 2014.
Given how busy Tesla is building the S and preparing for the X, there are no indications that a third product would be discussed in the near future.
Although press days for the 2013 New York Auto Show run on Wednesday and Thursday, Tesla spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks says Musk has no plans to be in New York for the show, nor does the company have an unveiling planned.
“We’re still finalizing details,” Hendriks said of Thursday’s announcement.
If it’s not product-related news, it’s more likely to be tied to the company’s finances or services it offers current owners. Read literally, Musk’s tweet could also be signaling another influx of cash for Tesla, possibly his own. Maintaining proper cash flow is crucial to the company’s long-term survival.
Tesla recently raised more than $40 million by selling off zero-emission vehicle credits and greenhouse gas credits to undisclosed buyers, it said in early March.
It was then that Tesla also announced that it planned to pay off five years early the $465 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy. The loans were originally due in full by mid-December of 2022, but Tesla now says the government will have its money by the end of 2017.
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