Apu Gomes/Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng
- Tesla is trading nearly 10% higher on Monday after weeks of downside.
- Shares rose after CEO Elon Musk encouraged employees to hold on to the stock.
- Retail investors have been buying at high levels amid the sell-off.
Tesla shares surged on Monday, extending gains since Elon Musk called a surprise all-hands meeting with employees last Thursday.
In the Thursday evening town hall, the CEO urged employees to hold on to their shares, which at that point had fallen more than 50% from their all-time high in December. He also hyped the company’s projects, telling workers that the company’s robotics and robotaxi developments would help deliver a “future of abundance.”
Tesla shares began moving higher at the end of last week and rose sharply Monday morning. As of 10:38 a.m. ET, the stock was up 9.29%, 15% higher than Thursday’s close.
A herd of retail investors buying the recent dip has helped the stock. While big investors have increasingly soured on the electric vehicle maker, JPMorgan wrote last week that retail traders have poured $7.3 billion into the stock in the past two weeks.
It signals that retail investors consider the stock’s plunge an opportunity, dismissing issues that have weighed on Musk’s carmaker, which include falling vehicle sales, rising EV competition, and Musk’s work leading DOGE’s government cost-cutting crusade.
His work with DOGE, in particular, has been highly polarizing, generating protests of the company and instances of vandalism.
Analysts have been divided on where the stock is headed, but at least one firm is betting that Musk’s DOGE leadership could offer a silver lining for the company. TD Cowen wrote last week that his politics might nurture a new consumer base in Republican-oriented regions where EV adoption has typically been low.
