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7.9.20   3:05 PM Innovation - Consumer

Tesla hiring is soaring again and Elon Musk is ready to take on the shorts

Tesla stock just hit a new all-time high - and now Elon Musk is ramping up hiring to drive more deliveries.

Tesla ($TSLA) shares are around all-time highs, with Wall Street analysts scrambling to issue positive guidance and upgrades and keep pace with Elon Musk. 

Shares of Tesla stock have soared more than 200% in 2020. Earlier this week, a Goldman Sachs analyst jacked up the price target on Tesla's stock - but still cautioned to be "tactical" with their investments. Others are even more optimistic. 

"TSLA is positioned to become a $100 billion company with 20% EBITDA margins by 2025," JMP Securities analysts wrote recently, targeting $1,500 per share for the electric car maker and rating shares "Outperform." Now, data is reflecting rising engagement and more hiring - especially in a key location - that may have investors and analysts even more bullish. 

Just as Tesla's stock took off, so did job postings - which is why some analysts are optimistic it will still be able to match delivery targets in the short run. From early May lows, job postings throughout the organization have shot up 22% in recent weeks.

The bounce-back has been even stronger in Fremont, California, a key production center for Musk, where job postings have risen more than 24%. Part of it could be driven by new battery production one Tesla blog recently tracked. Still, Tesla has struggled to prevent the spread of COVID in the workplace, and some staffers have spoken out about Musk's handling of the pandemic and management of the return to production .

At a time when many brands see engagement and social media chatter sour because of pandemic workplace policies - it seems that even Elon is immune to that, somehow, On Twitter, Tesla has tacked on more than a million new followers this year (although, Musk's 40 million devotees far outstrips that of his own brand). 

But what's driving all the social media engagement? Lately, it could be the shorts Musk cleverly marketed, selling out of 'Tesla short shorts' and took jabs at the investors who said his company would be hard-hit in the downturn.

We'll know more before the end of the month about Tesla's performance, with an earnings report due in just a few weeks. 

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.

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