Musk Counters Tesla Delivery Doubt With Upbeat Internal Memo

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares swung wildly Thursday after an upbeat email that Elon Musk sent to employees countered days of escalating doubt that the company will hit its vehicle delivery targets.

The chief executive officer wrote that Tesla has a “good chance” in the second quarter of exceeding the record 90,700 deliveries achieved in the last three months of 2018. In the email, which first surfaced on a Chinese social media forum, Musk also said the company has received more than 50,000 net new orders this quarter.

Two people who asked not to be identified confirmed the email is legitimate. Tesla shares rose as much as 3.5% after trading lower by as much as 5.6% during the pre-market session. The stock was up 0.8% as of 10:45 a.m. in New York.

Musk’s memo contradicted multiple analysts who have cast doubt on Tesla’s ability to deliver at least 90,000 electric vehicles this quarter and 360,000 this year. Gene Munster, a managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, became the latest to cast doubt on the company reaching those numbers, telling Bloomberg Television late Wednesday that “2019 is going to be a difficult year.”

“They’re going to miss their numbers, their target -- everyone knows that,” Munster said Wednesday. In a follow-up interview Thursday, he said demand is “really a wild card.”

Tesla shares are still down about 42% so far this year.

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