Summary
⚈ TSLA rose 14.95% as Musk vowed to focus more on business than politics.
⚈ Lawmakers, including Gottheimer and Gonzalez, missed out on gains up to 10.88%.
Finbold’s congressional trading radar flagged quite a few sales of Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) made by U.S. politicians before the company’s underwhelming Q1 2025 earnings report.
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However, despite the weak quarterly report, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk’s newfound intention of devoting more time to his business, as opposed to his political dealings, has caused a surge in TSLA share price.
To be more precise, by press time on April 25, Tesla stock was changing hands at a price of $261.53, having marked a 14.95% surge from its close on April 21, a day before the earnings call.
While the electric vehicle (EV) maker is still in hot water, as TSLA stock is experiencing renewed interest from short sellers, and the company’s sales in Europe have plummeted, recent price action has brought about a rare sight — as the stock traders on Capitol Hill seem to have mistimed their sales.
Congressmen miss out on double-digit Tesla stock price rally
Gilbert Ray Cisneros, the representative of California’s 31st congressional district, sold between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of Tesla shares on March 31. At the time, TSLA stock was trading at $259.16 — so the congressman missed out on a relatively modest 0.91% move to the upside.
However, his colleagues were not as fortunate.
For example, Josh Gottheimer, one of the House’s most active and successful traders, liquidated a position in the same value range on March 19. Gottheimer’s sale was executed when Tesla stock was changing hands for $235.86 — meaning that the representative of New Jersey’s 5th congressional district failed to capture a 10.88% rally.
The congressman from Pennsylvania’s 8th district, Robert Bresnahan, executed three sales in the $1,001 to $15,000 range — on March 6, March 10, and March 11. On those days, TSLA shares closed at $263.45, $222.15, and $230.58. Once all three sales are squared up (and readers should note that the first was fairly well-timed), Bresnahan let a 9.55% surge slip by.
Finally, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas’s 34th district sold between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of Tesla stock on March 17, when it was trading at $238.01, some 9.88% lower than the stock’s current price.
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