Are the wheels, so to speak, finally coming off the Tesla investment case?
After a dramatic Sunday, in which Elon Musk unleashed a bitter tirade at the Thai rescue chief Vern Unsworth, calling him a pedophile in a now deleted tweet…
… after his rescue effort was criticized, Tesla stock is down 3% in early trading as investors show growing concerns at Musk’s increasingly erratic public behavior.
Musk’s latest outburst follows a warning last week from one of Tesla’s top investors who urged the company to keep its head down and focus on performance: “We are very supportive, but we would like peace and execution at this stage,” said James Anderson, partner and portfolio manager at Baillie Gifford & Co., Tesla’s fourth-largest shareholder, said on July 11 in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Adding to investor worries are unconfirmed reports that the Tesla’s Model 3 configuration page is down.
Scattered reports that Tesla’s Model 3 configuration page is down $TSLA @zerohedge pic.twitter.com/UvcULl4aqm
— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) July 16, 2018
Musk also sparked outrage on Saturday after it was revealed that he was a prominent donor to a GOP PAC whose purpose is to keep the Republicans in power and which resulted in a furious backlash from liberals, many vowing to cancel their car orders or even return cars they currently have.
Nice to know the person responsible for making electric cars is able to divorce himself from climate change by donating to the very people who deny its existence. I traded my Tesla in last week after my friend’s Tesla caught on fire, so I saved a trip https://t.co/rDqiERd8qt
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) July 14, 2018
Another final emerging concern is a weekend report that T Rowe Price, currently the second largest holder of TSLA, has significantly trimmed its holdings of the stock.
Here’s an update – I managed to cut out one long equity fund when I was segregating bond positions from equity positions.$TSLA pic.twitter.com/UvZFDbfOGZ
— Drive for Show (@WintonCapPtnrs) July 15, 2018
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