When Tesla releases its first quarter earnings this afternoon, the company’s CEO Elon Musk will field the usual questions about new products, new factories, and progress toward its futuristic vision of self-driving cars and robot workers. But Musk will also face increasingly urgent questions about its current state of affairs — and why everything seems to be going to shit.
Earlier this month, the company reported its first year-over-year sales drop in four years, a sign of rougher waters ahead. Tesla’s stock has fallen more than 40 percent since the start of the year, including a 13 percent drop in the last week. The company laid off over 14,000 employees last week, 10 percent of its global workforce — which could end up being closer to 20 percent when all’s said and done, according to Bloomberg. Today’s earnings report is expected to include Tesla’s lowest profit margins in six years, a sign that rampant price-cutting continues to exact a toll.
Always remember: when you invest in a stock, you can only lose what you’re putting in. When you short a stock, there’s no limit in how much you can lose. Yes, that means you can go in debt.
Well you lose the amount you shorted. You can’t go into debt for money you haven’t invested.
Shorting is when you borrow stocks and then immediately sell it. At some point you have to buy those stocks back so you can return the stocks to the lender.
Say you short 1 stock at $1000. The stock later drops to $100. You have made a good $900 profit when you return the stock.
Say the stock instead goes to $10,000. You have made a devastating $9000 loss. You have lost more than you initially shorted.