Tesla Stock Price and Forecast: TSLA shares rally to $128.50 in early Thursday session

• TSLA shares shot up 7.5% on Wednesday after Elon Musk claimed he was done selling.
• NHTSA investigates 580,000 Teslas over video game safety issue.
• Tesla secures four-year supply of graphite for battery anodes from Australian company.

UPDATE: TSLA shares are indeed rallying for a third straight session. One hour into Thursday's trading session, the stock rose 2% to $128.50. This moves it above the December 10 resistance at $1,020 and gives investors a chance to retest the range high at $1,072 from December 8.

Tesla (TSLA) did not underwhelm those expecting a banner session on Wednesday. TSLA shares careened up 7.5% after Elon Musk added even more color to Tuesday's statement about soon ending his season of selling. Specifically, he said there were a few tranches left, but that he was "almost done." The stock is trading up 1% in Thursday's premarket at $1,019.

Tesla Stock News: Tesla secures graphite supply

Tesla secured the majority of battery-grade graphite from a new Louisiania processing plant owned by Australia-based Syrah Resources, according to Bloomberg. The processor will have an initial supply capacity of 10,000 short tons a year, and Tesla will have first right to any increased supply capacity.

Graphite is used for battery anodes, and China currently produces most of the world's battery-grade graphite. Syrah Resources will supply its graphite from Mozambique on the other hand. Syrah says it could raise its output from Mozambique to 40,000 tons by the middle of this decade.

Early Wednesday morning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a safety investigation into 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 that come equipped with video games that can be played on the center console touchscreen. The NHTSA says that prior to December 2020, the games could only be played when the vehicle was in park. Starting a year ago, however, the agency claims the games were made available to the front passenger when the vehicle was in drive, which "may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash," the NHTSA said.

Musk's tweet on Wednesday that he was "almost done" with selling shares refers to his promise in early November that he would sell 10% of his stake in the EV maker. On a podcast on Tuesday, the Tesla CEO had said he had "sold enough" TSLA stock to meet his 10% goal. Wednesday's admission that he was "almost done" sounds closer to the truth, and some observers think he has sold about 15 million shares thus far with about 2 million to go.

TSLA key statistics

Market Cap	$1.02 trillion
Price/Earnings	330
Price/Sales	25
Price/Book	38
Enterprise Value	$1.02 trillion
Operating Margin	10%
Profit Margin	7%
52-week high	$1,243.49
52-week low	$539.49
Short Interest	3%
Average Wall Street Rating and Price Target	Hold, $849.64

 

Tesla Stock Forecast: this is what a reversal looks like

On Wednesday, Tesla's share price bounded past December's top trend line that has herded TSLA stock lower since December 1.

Before the market opened on Wednesday, FXStreet wrote: "To confirm the reversal, TSLA price must close above the December 17 swing high at $960.61. Further confirmation that the three-week price decline is over would be a close above the December 16 high of $998.54."

Indeed, the market has seen both levels broken in a single session. Now TSLA faces resistance at $1,020 from December 10. If bulls can break above this price, then the target will become December 8's $1,072 resistance point. Overpowering here will bring $1,165 into view, which provided resistance on November 30 and December 1.

TSLA 1-hour chart

---