Last year will go down as a disastrous one for Tesla (TSLA) short sellers, people who bet against Tesla’s success and progress. On the final day of 2020, Tesla’s stock soared over the $700 mark for the first time. Yahoo! Finance noted that Tesla bears who bet against Tesla saw more than $38 billion in mark-to-market losses in 2020. The data come from S3 Partners. The article went on on to compare the next largest loss for short sellers, which was people betting against Apple. They lost just under $7 billion.
Let’s make the roaring 20’s again!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 31, 2020
Ihor Dusaniwsky, a managing director at S3 Partners, told Bloomberg that this “is not only the largest mark-to-market loss for any stock this year, it is the largest yearly mark-to-market loss I have ever seen.”
On the topic of the short squeeze, Dusaniwsky said, “The short squeeze has been going on all year. It’s been an angled straight line down,” adding that, the big thing about Tesla, as opposed to any other stock, is that the vast majority of retail shareholders will never be sellers. They love the stock, they love the car, they love Elon Musk and they are adamant long shareholders.”
Tesla’s 2020 Rise Is The Dawn Of An Electrified Future
Reuters pointed out that Tesla’s rise made 2020 the year that the US auto industry went electric. Although there are millions more gasoline vehicles than there are Teslas and other electric vehicles on the roads, and even though EV market share is still well below 5%, Tesla’s presence can not and will not be ignored.
It is as if the auto industry has come to a crossroads and made the right turn — in the direction of accelerating its shift toward electrification. This, Reuters emphasized, “is a turning point as historically momentous as the launch of Ford Motor Co’s moving assembly line for the Model T or General Motors’ 2009 bankruptcy.”
This year was a tough year for many — especially in the face of a pandemic that forced millions out of work and many small businesses to close. On the flip side, several oil and gas companies also filed for bankruptcy, Exxon faced a $48 billion shortfall, and the cost of oil even fell into the negatives for a bit. And the list goes on.
For Tesla, it was the opposites of these travesties — not only did it reach financial heights, release its popular Model Y crossover SUV, and announce breakthrough battery technology on Battery Day, but Tesla also overtook Toyota as the world’s most valuable automaker — and then left it deep in the dust. (Right now, Tesla’s market cap is at $668.91 billion and Toyota’s market cap is at $251.49 billion.)
In 2021, Tesla Will Continue To Accomplish Its Goals
Many hope that 2021 will be a better year than 2020, and I believe that it will be for Tesla. Tesla not only has the Cybertruck going into production at the end of the year, but it is also building Giga Berlin and Giga Texas — both of which have had a stellar amount of progress in recent months. Giga Shanghai is also doing pretty well, and Tesla is greatly loved in China.
Tesla is also planning to enter the Indian market in 2021. Nitin Gadkari, India’s transport minister, confirmed that Tesla will start selling its vehicles in India in 2021. In a statement to CNN Business, Gadkari said that once Tesla has established sales centers, it will then “look into setting up … manufacturing here.”
Tesla’s goal is accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy, and I believe that 2021 will be the year that Tesla will really do wonders in achieving its goals.
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