Elon Musk Celebrates Tesla Stock Price High: 'Whoa, The Stock Is So High'

No doubt Christmas 2019 will be a merry one for Tesla Inc. and its CEO Elon Musk, who saw Tesla's stock hit and exceed $420 per share -- an all-time high for the stock -- even before Wall Street opened for the shortened trading week Monday.

The stock stood at $420.15 before the opening bell sounded; climbed to $420.69 before lunch; hit $422.01 in the afternoon before closing at $419.22, up 3.36 percent from its opening price of $411.78. It improved further to $419.69, up 0.11 percent in after hours. Tesla's market cap at trading day's end stood at $75.56 billion.

Not bad for one of the most heavily shorted stocks on Wall Street. Monday's ascent is also a long way off from June 4 when the stock plumbed the depths. It opened at $181 before sinking to a low of $179.61, its lowest point this year.

Musk was so overjoyed at the stock's surge he fired off three tweets in quick succession. The first posted in the morning featured a Bloomberg stock price chart showing the stock at $420.15. The second tweet three minutes later had him exclaiming, "Whoa … the stock is so high lol." And the third fired off five hours later was a chart showing Tesla stock at $420.69.

Musk's fans shared his joy with him. One tweeted, "Daddy Elon giving us some huge gains."

Analysts point out Tesla's stock is up nearly 27 percent this year, which took Tesla on a roller coaster ride marked by euphoric highs and numbing lows. Tesla began the year with a $700 million loss but managed to claw its way back to profitability in the third quarter. Despite this comeback, Tesla will likely end 2019 the way it began the year -- with a loss.

Shortsellers made a killing off Tesla's woes early in the year. They earned more than $1.91 billion in profits from January to April by betting Tesla’s stock price would fall this year, said S3 Partners, a financial technology and data firm.

Some shortsellers are still betting against Tesla but in much reduced numbers. New developments this year herald a positive outlook for 2020. Deliveries of the Tesla Model Y electric compact crossover utility vehicle are expected to begin in the summer of 2020. The new Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai will enter large scale production next year while new and improved prototypes of the Tesla Cybertruck will make their public appearance. A real Tesla Cyberquad electric quad bike all-terrain vehicle is scheduled for reveal in 2020.