Tesla Semi stumble fuels trucker stocks
Elon Musk’s bluster, it turned out, lasted all of one day.
A deeper examination of Musk’s boasts about the Tesla Semi revealed little information about two key items — the price and weight of the semi.
The lack of the key data left a wide open left lane for shares of truck makers, which gained back on Monday some of Friday’s losses.
The truck companies, in the wake of Musk’s press event late Thursday — highlighting the cost advantages of the electric semis — saw their stock tumble on fears that Tesla would quickly steal away market share.
The Tesla Semi, the electric-car maker’s first truck, is expected to go into production in 2019.
The Tesla Semi is expected to have a 500mile range and highly touted ability to go 0-60 in only five seconds.
Walmart, on the spot, pre-ordered 15 of the trucks.
But then some Wall Street analysts couldn’t determine the Tesla Semi’s payload capacity — in addition to its cost and weight.
Shares of Navistar International on Monday rose 1.5 percent, to $38.18, after falling 3.5 percent on Friday; Paccar shares gained 1.5 percent, to $67.70, after easing 4.3 percent on Friday, and Cummins shares were up 39 cents, to $159.80, after falling 4.6 percent on Friday.
Tesla shares on Monday eased 2 percent, to $308.74, after rising 0.8 percent on Friday.
“Tesla cars don’t need to prove an economic case to their buyers, but Tesla trucks will,” Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Michael Baudendistel wrote in a research note. “Assessing the potential return on investment starts with price.”