Why Tesla stock stomped on the gas on Tuesday

Er, "stomped on the electricity?"

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

What happened

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) had roared ahead by 3.3% at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, and there might be three reasons this is happening.

So what

Let's address the first two reasons: On Friday, before the holiday weekend, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood reportedly told investors that because Tesla's share of the electric car market "has actually gone up fairly dramatically around the world," she now believes that the stock could be worth $3,000 a share by 2025 instead of the $755 or so that it costs today.   Then, CEO Elon Musk apparently told his employees in an email that he agrees with Wood and that the company could be selling between 5 million and 10 million vehicles a year by 2025 if Tesla "execute[s] really well."  

Now what

Diligent Tesla-watcher Electrek was the news outlet that got hold of Musk's email to his employees, and reported the CEO's comments. And this brings us to the third reason Tesla stock could be going up today.   This morning, Electrek reported that a new version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) autonomous car software, version FSD Beta 9, is "being passed around" among participants in Tesla's early access program. That doesn't mean that the new version is ready for deployment, or even that it will be released by the end of September, as Musk has promised. But it does mean that Tesla is getting the software ready for release, and that some folks at least are already able to use it. Combined with the optimistic sales projections, that seems to be enough to get Tesla investors excited today.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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