Tesla Stock Surges Again On Reports Musk Offers Incentives For Record Deliveries

Only two days after its stock zoomed to its best trading day thus far this year, Tesla Inc. posted its second best day on Wall Street Thursday, closing up 4.8 percent to $205.95. After-hours saw the stock move further upwards to $206.40.

Tesla added more than $1.6 billion to its market cap, which now stands at $36.4 billion. Thursday was also Tesla's fifth best performance in 2019. If this upward run continues, Tesla’s stock is on track for its best week since October 2018.

Two record highs in a week don’t mean a turnaround for the dismal state of Tesla’s stock, which as of last week was down 42 percent for the year. The stock on Thursday was back to where it stood on May 28 when it came in at $205.

Catalyst for Tesla’ second best trading day for the year was news its sales are set to hit record high delivery goals. News reports also say Tesla is offering generous incentives to employees to reach these lofty goals.

Leaked information revealed that Tesla has already delivered 33,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. and Canada in April and May. That number's more than half the total deliveries made in the first quarter of 2019, when it delivered 63,000 cars, according to Electrek.

Tesla’s bosses have gotten ambitious and are now telling their people they want them to deliver 33,000 EVs in June alone. That’s a pretty tall order given Tesla’s financial straits, but Tesla’s bosses believe it can be done by greasing the process with a bunch of incentives.

Tesla is offering hefty bonuses to sales and delivery employees if they get top 33,000. Sales employees will reportedly receive a $1,200 bonus while delivery employees will get $550. These monetary incentives might be doubled if employees deliver an additional 3,000 deliveries in June.

Tesla has already delivered 2,512 cars in June in North America. Many more deliveries are scheduled due to sales numbers being at the “highest they have ever been.” Tesla has some 10,000 more deliveries scheduled. More than 6,000 orders have been matched to vehicle identification numbers (VINs) but don’t yet have delivery schedules.

With its cash flow dwindling, Tesla in early May raised $2 billion in new funds to keep its operations going. Musk, however, said this new funding will only get the company through 10 months at its current made burn rate. He then promised a tighter rein on expenses.