Tesla Motors Shares Losing Their Charge

Joel Elconin is the co-host of Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show.

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA shares were trading lower by $8.77 (4 percent) at $208.34 in Monday's session. Since shedding $10.00 on February 12, from $212.80 to $202.88 as the result of a huge Q4 miss (($0.13) vs. ($0.31) estimates) on lower-than-expected revenue ($1.10 billion vs. $1.23 billion), the issue staged a short and mysterious rally reaching $218.20 early Monday's session.

See Also: Runaway Bull Stampede In Apple

Some of the recent rally may have been based on speculation that Apple Inc. AAPL was going to entering the electric car market and that Tesla Motors may been an attractive takeover target. As the rumors of a takeover faded, investors may return their focus to the disastrous earnings report that instigated its earlier decline to $193.28 on February 12, before rebounding back well above $200.00.

Tesla Motors has been in a prolonged downtrend since making its all-time high on September 4 at $291.42 and posting its all-time high close on that same day at $286.04. It has not been able to distance itself very far from its January 14 low ($185.00), which represents its lowest level since it bottomed at $177.22 in May 2014 as it was on its way to its all-time high.