By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are moving more than 1% higher in pre-open Friday despite CEO Elon Musk committing not to sell more shares in the next two years.
Discussing the ongoing plunge in Tesla stock on a Twitter Spaces audio chat, Musk committed not to sell Tesla stock “until I don't know probably two years from now. Definitely not next year under any circumstances and probably not the year thereafter."
"I needed to sell some stock to make sure, like, there's powder dry...to account for a worst-case scenario," he said.
Tesla shares jumped over 3% in after-hours trading on Thursday on Musk’s comments after previously falling almost 9% to hit a new 52-year low of $122.26. However, bulls are struggling to hold onto gains with the Tesla stock now trading just over 1% higher in pre-market Friday.
Despite a promise he won’t be selling more Tesla shares, the billionaire disclosed last week that he sold $3.6 billion worth of Tesla stock.
Discussing other issues, Musk told tens of thousands of listeners that Tesla is close to picking the location of its new Gigafactory. Local media outlets in Mexico reported this week that Tesla has chosen the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León for its new Gigafactory.
On finding someone to replace him as Twitter CEO, Musk commented that Twitter was a relatively simple business.
"(Twitter) is maybe 10% of the complexity of Tesla," Musk said.
Musk also expects the economy to enter a “serious recession" in 2023.
"I think there is going to be some macro drama that's higher than people currently think," he added.
The ongoing stock selloff in Tesla has also been accelerated by negative estimates revisions by analysts, including several price target cuts. The latest to join this club is a Wedbush senior analyst and long-time Tesla bull, who slashed the price target to $175 from the prior $250.
“At the same time that Tesla is cutting prices and inventory is starting to build globally in face of a likely global recession, Musk is viewed as "asleep at the wheel" from a leadership perspective for Tesla at the time investors need a CEO to navigate this Category 5 storm,” the analyst wrote in a client note.
Tesla stock price closed at $125.35 yesterday, down almost 65% YTD.