Tesla (TSLA) chief executive Elon Musk has changed his Twitter handle name to Elon Tusk along with an elephant emoji and hinted that the electric carmaker will be on news during Thursday afternoon. Speculations have been rife that the company will come out with a new vehicle, either a car or truck. In addition, the release of the most-awaited crossover SUV, Model Y, could also be one among the rumors.
Meanwhile, Musk’s previous tweet post has attracted the SEC regulators to impose fraud settlement of up to $1 billion to Tesla. It is expected that the bondholders would convert their investment into cash or stock. The SEC noted that Musk violated a fraud settlement by tweeting material information without prior approval. Few analysts expect Musk to share his views about the settlement tomorrow.
The settlement arose from Musk’s going-private tweets last year after securing funding to take Tesla private. Musk and Tesla agreed to have oversight over the CEO’s tweets that could contain material information to the company’s shareholders. Another set of investors have a rumor that Tesla’s going-private plan could be on news.
In addition, a convertible bond of $920 million is due for repayment on Friday by the company, which is deep in debt. Tesla has been struggling in managing the debt as the company nears completion of production of its popular Model 3 sedan. Traders believe the company could issue news about the debt repayment plan.
During February first week, Tesla said it started taking orders for its cheaper Model 3 variant in China with deliveries commencing in March. Tesla had expected Model 3 volumes to grow sharply in fiscal 2019, helped by high production volumes at the Fremont factory. A full-fledged production of Model 3 vehicles at its Gigafactory in Shanghai is likely to start by year-end.
Also, speculations have been circling that Apple (AAPL) could purchase Tesla as the tech giant is still committed to moving beyond the iPhone and other gadgets. The decline in Tesla’s valuation could also attract Apple. This could offer the iPhone maker a leeway into the vast automotive sector. Apple’s pockets are deep enough to fund the deal and have the operational capacity to overwhelm production issues.
Related: A mixed bag awaits Tesla this year amid global expansion
The company could announce sharing-plan agreement details of its electric vehicle technology with other automakers. This is expected to help the automaker lower its debt.
Meanwhile, market watchers believe that Model 3 will continue to drive Tesla’s growth this year. This added to the improved investor sentiment. The general outlook remained bullish on the company, which sustained the turnaround in the most recent quarter. All these speculations along with Elon Tusk’s tweet have kindled its stock to rise on Wednesday.
Shares of Tesla opened higher on Wednesday and is trading in the green territory. The stock has fallen over 10% in the past year and over 9% in the past three months.