Wall Street analyst Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research, a Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) bear, has reiterated his allegation that the stock price is likely being manipulated.
According to Johnson, Tesla shares are being artificially supported by activity in the options market, as he outlined in an X post on August 29.
He argued that Tesla is not trading on its business fundamentals but rather on speculative flows, pointing to the latest put-to-call ratio data. Johnson noted that TSLA’s put-to-call ratio collapsed from 0.85x on August 28 to just 0.67x on the morning of August 29, signaling a sharp swing in sentiment driven by options traders.
This ratio, which measures bearish put contracts against bullish call contracts, suggests traders are betting heavily on upside moves, effectively stabilizing Tesla’s stock price.
Notably, Tesla’s open interest ratio has hovered below 1.0 throughout the year, indicating a persistent tilt toward call buying over puts.
Johnson contends this pattern amounts to ‘engineered support’ for Tesla’s stock rather than price action justified by earnings or operational performance.
“TSLA isn’t trading on fundamentals – it’s being actively manipulated through the options market. Consider the data: despite abysmal news, the stock is flat. Why? Someone is aggressively buying calls,” Johnson said.
Tesla’s mounting challenges
Interestingly, Tesla’s stock price has stayed mainly above the $300 level for most of the year, despite the company facing mounting challenges from rising competition, falling sales, and backlash against CEO Elon Musk over his political views.
The company’s second-quarter performance highlighted these concerns. Specifically, Tesla’s deliveries dropped 13.5% year-over-year to 384,122 vehicles, while profits plunged 71%.
In Europe, sales declined 40% year-over-year in July, marking seven consecutive months of market share losses to rivals, including China’s BYD.
TSLA shares ended the last session down 3.5% at $333. Year-to-date, the stock has fallen more than 11%.
Meanwhile, analysts remain divided on the equity’s outlook, with GLJ Research reaffirming its ‘Sell’ rating on August 21, accompanied by a bearish target of $19.05. In contrast, Morgan Stanley reiterated a ‘Buy’ rating a day later, projecting $410 per share.
The bank’s analyst, Andrew Slimmon, expects stocks to rise as corporate earnings continue to surprise, although whether that optimism extends to Tesla remains uncertain.
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