Only a mere week after trademarking the Tesla Cyber Roundup event, a rebranding of the company's annual shareholder meeting, Tesla stock is experiencing gradual gains over a rather bleak year. The firm announced a three-for-one stock split in March, a move that still requires shareholder approval, which will take place during the Cyber Roundup event on Thursday, Aug. 4.
Year over year, Tesla shares are down by 25%, sitting as of writing at a little over $900, a rather sharp decline from the highs of $2,000 a share experienced in 2020. That price was allotted following a similar stock split when Tesla stock was averaging around $1,300 per share two years prior. Following that five-for-one stock split, the price per share for Tesla stock was reset to $460, with the firm's valuation priced at $430 billion.
The company is now positioned to make a similar albeit somewhat dire move, with Tesla shares feeling a glow up in the runup to a potential reset. On July 29, Friday, Tesla stock closed at a 5% jump, and prices are seeing a healthy rebound, surging by 12.42% over the past five days. Similar conditions were met in 2020, when investors were shorting Tesla stock, essentially betting against it, in order to create a short squeeze.
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In that time, however, Tesla stock was seeing nearly 7% of outstanding shares being shorted, while today, all but a mere 2.9% of the firm's shares are being shorted. Tesla remains the most shorted stock in the world, despite the downturn, yet it is largely due to the fact that Tesla shorts investors are losing money in the process of their short squeeze. According to a report by Bloomberg in July, Tesla short sellers have experienced a whopping $1 billion in market-to-market losses.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who remains embroiled in a heated dispute with Twitter, even took to the social media site to taunt short sellers with a short and sweet, "Heatwave in Shortville." If the firm's three-for-one stock split does find approval on Thursday, it could mean devastation for short sellers like it did in 2020. Tesla shorts were down $25.4 billion following its previous stock split.
It's unclear exactly how things will go this time. However, things are looking quite positive for the EV automaker. With Tesla stock closing in on a 50% bump from May, shareholders remain firm. Expect several additional announcements on Thursday to add to the Tesla Cyber Roundup event as the firm gears up for a strong third quarter.
It's not entirely known what Tesla may announce amid the Cyber Roundup event, but with Musk at the helm, it's anyone's best guess. In the face of positive gains, the firm has been in the hot seat with unintentional consequences associated with its driverless technology, which recently killed a US motorcyclist. While not directly influencing its stock prices, the autopilot issue over at Tesla proves to be a major necessity to amend, as well as kicking into gear its foreign production, most prominent among them being its Shanghai-based gigafactory.
