Elon Musk Or Earnings: What Moves Tesla's Stock More?

The market wasn’t particularly impressed by last week’s Tesla Motors Inc TSLA earnings report. In the week following the report, Tesla shares have dropped more than 6.3 percent.

With a beta of around 1.3, Tesla is a fairly volatile stock to begin with, but the stock has a history of big catalyst-driven moves.

Benzinga looked back to determine whether Tesla stock moves more in the week following earnings reports or the week following major product announcements.

In recent years, Tesla has had a number of major product announcements and unveilings:

• Model X SUV- Feb 9, 2012: Tesla’s Model X SUV unveiling sent shares up 4.9 percent in the week that followed.
• Powerwall Battery – April 30, 2015: The unveiling of the new home battery pack sent shares up 4.7 percent in the first week following the announcement.
• Autopilot- October 14, 2015: Tesla announced limited self-driving capabilities for the first time. After the announcement, Tesla shares fell 3.1 percent in the following week.
• Model 3-March 31, 2016: The biggest Tesla unveiling in history happened earlier this year when the company revealed the Model 3. Tesla shares jumped 11.9 percent in the first week following the unveiling. 
• P100D Battery Pack – August 23, 2016: Tesla claims the P100D battery pack will make its Model S the fastest production car in the world. Shares dropped 6.0 percent during the week that followed. 
• Full Self-Driving Hardware – October 19, 2016: Tesla announced last month that all of its vehicles will now be equipped with the hardware required for full autonomous driving. Tesla’s stock dropped 0.6 percent in the first week following the announcement.

Overall, Tesla’s stock has averaged a 5.2 percent one-week move following major product announcements.

In the week following its last six earnings reports, the stock averaged a 7.6 percent move. That average includes one-week moves of +17.4 percent in Q4 2015 and -11.8 percent in Q2 2015.

The right Elon Musk tweet on Twitter, headline on Tesla’s blog or presentation at a Tesla product event can easily send Tesla stock soaring or plummeting. However, when it comes to volatility, Tesla’s quarterly earnings reports remain the most volatile catalyst for the stock.

Image: Heisenberg Media, Flickr