TSLA Stock Up 2% Yesterday, Slightly Down Now, Tesla Prepares to Reopen Fremont Factory

UTC by Christopher Hamman · 3 min read
TSLA Stock Up 2% Yesterday, Slightly Down Now, Tesla Prepares to Reopen Fremont Factory
Photo: Depositphotos

Tesla (TSLA) stock price rose yesterday as reports emerged that Elon Musk plans to reopen its Fremont California factory this week. However, today TSLA stock is slightly down.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock price rose yesterday. Sources say that the stock price of the electric vehicle maker closed yesterday at $782.58. The Elon Musk-led Tesla has given indications that it wants to reopen the Fremont California factory. This comes as the Fremont authorities haven’t lifted the shelter-in-place rules.

As at the time of writing, Tesla (TSLA) stock price was $781.58, -$1 (-0.13%).

Will Tesla Reopen Its Fremont Factory This week?

Elon Musk has been known to have spoken out vocally against the restrictions. He has tweeted relentlessly against them. Sources say that a small number of employees came to the factory yesterday to prepare for the restarting of operations.

During a conference call last week, Elon said:

“I would call it ‘forcibly imprisoning people in their homes’ against all their constitutional rights, in my opinion, and breaking people’s freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why people came to America or built this country.”

This has become something of a grey area for the Californian government. Under the current rules, certain small businesses are allowed to remain open. There are conditions to this though. If social distancing measures are observed the businesses won’t have problems.

This, however, doesn’t mean that Tesla falls under this category of businesses. Earlier, health authorities had determined that Tesla wasn’t. The shelter-in-place rules took off on March 10th. Tesla had insisted that employees stay until the 17th.

Tesla (TSLA) Stock Price Surge Is Important to Elon Musk

Pundits think that this is just a part of Elon’s outlandish behavior. This time, he may have quite a few million reasons to gain. Tesla (TSLA) stock price could have been at new highs if not for COVID-19. Elon stands to cash in on his $700 million options to buy stock. This compensation deal was struck with Tesla’s board in 2018.

Elon Musk has already led Tesla to achieve several conditions that give him the option to buy 1.69 million shares in 12 tranches. These shares are priced at $350.02 each. The market prices are at double the value of the set agreement. One can understand Elon’s anguish.

Tesla’s market capitalization has been over $100 billion for a few months now. This is one of the conditions for activating the stock options. Others will fall in line if Tesla resumes operations.

On the whole, Tesla seems set for a bullish phase. It’s stock prices have risen more than 87% year-to-date. This means that Elon Musk must be doing something right. The shelter-in-place situation could dampen things. That may be the reason for Elon making his comments.

As time goes along, we may see some easing of restrictions. For now, though the situation will remain the same. The U.S. has over 1 million coronavirus cases since COVID-19 was first reported there. For more coronavirus updates, please, follow this link.

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