A Leaked Memo Sends Shares of Tesla Rebounding

Electric vehicle maker Tesla saw its shares rise on Thursday after Wall Street learned that CEO Elon Musk has told his employees that orders are up.

Shares closed up 1.4% to $195.49 on Thursday, a welcomed gain as Tesla’s shares have shed 16% in the past three weeks and about 41% since the beginning of the year.

The stock is trading at the lowest levels since late 2016.

It was late Wednesday this week that a memo from Musk had revealed that Tesla had over 50,000 net new orders so far this quarter, and that based on current trends, the company has a chance of exceeding the record 90,700 deliveries set in the fourth quarter of last year.

The memo had been confirmed as authentic by an unidentified person with knowledge of its origin.

Musk said that the company needs to sustain production of 1,000 Model 3s each day and it is averaging production of 900 vehicles per day.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said to investors on Wednesday in a private call that demand for Tesla’s cars was lower than predicted and that if this does not recover next yea, it “becomes a restructuring story.” A recording of the call had been obtained by The Associated Press.

Other analysts also lowered their price targets. Citi’s Itay Michaeli, who cut his regular price target on shares to $191 from $238, while CFRA Equity Research’s Garrett Nelson cut his target to $150 from $200.

“We remain highly concerned about its vehicle sales and margins,” Nelson said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and have not been compensated for this article.