Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) sold off 4.25% on Thursday following their earnings release, which showed a loss per share that was $2.21 greater than Wall Street had expected. The company said they should return back to profitability in the third quarter as they continue to cut costs and streamline their deliveries. Investors weren't impressed, however, and pushed the stock to its lowest levels since October of last year.
Technical traders noted that the move today pushed below the $250 support that almost every analyst on Wall Street has been focused on for months. One analyst lowered their price target to $240 on Tuesday; after today's drop, it has almost reached that level.
The trade of the week will be countertrend in nature but will require a little patience. Following Thursday's decline, it's expected that the stock will fall further as the selling picks up. Traders looking to play the counter-trend bounce can do so by first waiting for the stock to fall to the $240 price level and then looking to play a long. Given that Tesla is a rather volatile name, we'll want to focus on risk first.
The trade of the week will be to wait for Tesla to move to $240 and then sell the $225/$220 put spread in June for $1.25. If the stock falls sharply over the next few days, it's likely that one can get a better credit than the $1.25, but this will be the starting point. The goal will be to have a quick, snapback-type rally off that area, which should allow for a quick profit in the 50% range.