SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) shares have risk as much as 15 percent today, making the company yet another success story for well-known PayPal and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk.
Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has become one of Wall Street’s new darlings in recent weeks, climbing from right around $34 per share at the beginning of the year up to around $90 per share today. Most of those gains have come since the beginning of last month, and it seems like investors just can’t get enough of the EV automaker—or its founder and CEO Elon Musk, either.
Shares of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) dropped last week after the company posted quarterly losses that were worse than expected. But then it announced that Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) had agreed to provide it with some new financing for $500 million worth of solar projects.
SolarCity Short Squeeze?
CNN Money published comments left by several investors on StockTwits, and a few of them speculated that today’s rise may be the result of a short squeeze. SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), like Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been a popular short recently, most likely because investors are betting against unproven green energy initiatives.
Other failing green technology companies like Fisker Automotive may be making it seem as if it’s smart to bet against companies in the same field. However, many investors are now learning the price of betting against Musk—at least in the near term.
Like Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), SolarCity’s stock price has shot up like one of Musk’s SpaceX rockets, rising from its December opening price at its initial public offering of roughly $12 per share to up over $50 per share now.
