Tesla (TSLA) surged 10% this morning, fueled by money from retail investors on President Trump, White House officials, and CEO Elon Musk pumping the stock.
It is sending Tesla’s price-to-earning ratio back up to record highs, which Musk warned could lead to the stock crashing “like a soufflé being smashed by a sledgehammer.”
JPMorgan said that data shows retail traders are pouring into Tesla’s stock, with $7.3 billion flowing in over the past two weeks.
It came after Tesla’s stock crashed 50% from its December high and several efforts to pump it back up.
Finally, CEO Elon Musk held a public all-hands meeting at Tesla for the first time last week. During the meeting, Musk plead for people to “hang on to their Tesla stocks.”
The pumping efforts helped Tesla’s stock surge 10% this morning – though it is still down more than 30% year-to-date:
This morning’s surge resulted in Tesla’s price-to-earning ratio surging back to 133 based on Tesla’s current earnings, which Wall Street is now expecting to be cut in half this quarter as the automaker’s deliveries are crashing. In turn, it should result in Tesla’s price-to-earnings ratio doubling.
Tesla’s net income crashed 50% last year on lower car deliveries and lower gross margins as Tesla tried to avoid further decline in demand with bigger discounts and subsidized financing rates.
While most of Wall Street still believes that Tesla will go back to growth in 2025 with a consensus of 1.9 million vehicle deliveries, they are starting to adjust that down due to the clear demand issues Tesla is facing this quarter.
I am not one to predict Tesla’s stock movements. It is one of the most unpredictable stocks out there since it is fueled by people believing Elon’s lies.
However, I do see a potentially dangerous scenario here.
These recent clear stock pumps from the Musk/Trump partnership have evidently worked with retail investors as per JPMorgan’s data. It prevented the stock from going too low before Q1 delivery and earnings results.
But the results are coming and Tesla will likely have the lowest deliveries in the last 10 quarters and one of the worst earnings performance in years – leaving those retail investors holding the bag.
Unless, that’s already priced in and people are OK with Tesla’s price-to-earnings ratio shooting back up to 200-300 – even though Musk himself warned about those levels not being sustainable.
In May of 2020, Musk said that Tesla’s stock was too high and the company was still growing at that time:
Now, Tesla’s stock is trading 6x higher, and the company is not growing anymore. At that time, Musk was not scared to say that the stock was too high because he still saw the company grow and believed Tesla was on the verge of solving self-driving.
5 years later, he is now telling people not to sell at 6x the price because he knows Tesla is not growing delivery volumes like it was in 2020 and he made Tesla pivot on Full Self-Driving because the HW3 and HW4 solutions didn’t work.
Again, I’m not predicting where Tesla’s stock will go. I have no idea, but I am afraid that all this pumping could lead to those retail investors holding the bag.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
A dump truck moves raw ore inside the pit at the Mountain Pass mine, operated by MP Materials, in Mountain Pass, California, U.S., on Friday, June 7, 2019.
Joe Buglewicz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of U.S. rare earth miners surged in early trading Monday, after President Donald Trump threatened China with retaliation over its strict export controls.
Trump on Friday threatened China with a “massive” increase in tariffs in retaliation for Beijing imposing strict export controls on rare earth elements. The president then dialed down his rhetoric on Sunday, saying the situation with China will “be fine.”
The Defense Department, meanwhile, is accelerating its effort to stockpile $1 billion worth of critical minerals, according to The Financial Times.
And JPMorgan Chase said Monday it would invest up to $10 billion in companies that are crucial to U.S. national security.
“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing — all of which are essential for our national security,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in press release.
Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals that are crucial inputs in U.S. weapons platforms, robotics, electric vehicles and other applications.
Bloom Energy power storage equipment in San Ramon, California.
Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Shares of Bloom Energy surged Monday after striking a deal with Brookfield to deploy fuel cells for artificial intelligence data centers.
Brookfield will spend up to $5 billion to deploy Bloom Energy’s technology, the first investment in its strategy to support big AI data centers with power and computing infrastructure.
Shares of Bloom Energy were up more than 30% in early trading. Bloom’s fuel cells provide onsite power that can be deployed quickly because they do not rely on the electric grid.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC last week that the AI industry will need to build power off the electric to meet demand quickly and protect consumers from rising electricity prices.
“Data center self-generated power could move a lot faster than putting it on the grid and we have to do that,” Huang told CNBC on Oct. 8.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
JPMorgan Chase on Monday said it is launching a decade-long plan to help finance and take direct stakes in companies it considers crucial to U.S. interests.
The bank said in a statement it would invest up to $10 billion into companies in four areas: defense and aerospace, “frontier” technologies including AI and quantum computing, energy technology including batteries, and supply chain and advanced manufacturing.
The money is part of a broader effort, dubbed the Security and Resiliency Initiative, in which JPMorgan said it will finance or facilitate $1.5 trillion in funding for companies it identifies as crucial. It said the total amount is 50% more than a previous plan.
“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing — all of which are essential for our national security,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in the release.
As the biggest American bank by assets and a Wall Street juggernaut, JPMorgan was already raising funds and lending money to companies in those industries. But the move helps organize the company’s activities around national interests at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China.
On Friday, markets tumbled as President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese imports after the major U.S. trading partner tightened export controls on rare earths.
In the release, Dimon said that the U.S. needs to “remove obstacles” including excessive regulations, “bureaucratic delay” and “partisan gridlock.”
JPMorgan said that within the four major areas, there were 27 specific industries it would look to support with advice, financing and investments. That includes areas as diverse as nanomaterials, autonomous robots, spacecraft and space launches, and nuclear and solar power.
“Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy,” Dimon said. “This new initiative includes efforts like ensuring reliable access to life-saving medicines and critical minerals, defending our nation, building energy systems to meet AI-driven demand and advancing technologies like semiconductors and data centers.”
The bank said it would hire an unspecified numbers of bankers and create an external advisory council to support its initiative.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.