Tesla (TSLA) Doubles Workforce for Gigafactory, Stock Falls

Tesla (TSLA) is doubling its workforce for its $5 billion gigafactory in an effort to complete construction years ahead of schedule.
By Annie Palmer ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Get Report  are slipping 1.64% to $226.64 this morning as the electric car company announced it is doubling the workforce on its $5 billion gigafactory to finish construction years ahead of schedule. 

Now, 1,000 workers work seven days a week at the battery factory based in the Nevada desert to meet demand for its Model 3 sedan, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Model 3 is slated to launch next year and costs $35,000, half the price of the Model S, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk set a 500,000 sales target for the Model 3 by 2018, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Last week, Musk unveiled his four-part "Master Plan Part Deux" for the company, which includes expanding into trucks and buses, equipping cars to be fully autonomous, to initiate a car-share fleet program and to fully integrate SolarCity (SCTY) into Tesla. 

Tesla and SolarCity are closing in on a merger agreement that could finalize the deal in the coming days. Tesla made an all-stock offer for the solar panel maker of $2.8 billion. 

Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate TESLA MOTORS INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: TSLA

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