Tesla Stock Extends Rally on Production Plans

The electric automaker is furloughing all non-essential workers and implementing salary cuts

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is up 1.9% $555.75 this morning after announcing its imminent plans in response to the coronavirus via email to U.S. employees. TSLA said it would furlough all non-essential workers for the time being and cut pay for salaried employees until the end of the second quarter The firm plans on resuming normal operations by May 4, barring any significant changes.

Today, TSLA is eyeing its fourth consecutive win, as well as its highest close in nearly a month. The equity has found padding on the charts at its 200-day moving average, and more recently its 140-day moving average. Furthermore, Tesla boasts a year-to-date gain of roughly 30%.

This positive price action, especially relative to the broader market, could attract some bull notes to the table. Coming into today, just six analyst considered TSLA a "strong buy" while 11 said "hold" and six called it a "strong sell." Meanwhile, the consensus 12-month price target of $454.57 is a 16.7% discount to current levels.

While short interest has fallen 12.1% in the last two reporting periods, there's still plenty of pessimistic positions to be unwound, which could keep some wind at TSLA's back. The 16.16 million shares sold short represent a healthy 11.1% of the stock's available float.