What happened
Easy go, easy come. On Friday, Tesla (TSLA 0.21%) stock closed out the month of October on a low note, falling 5.5% after Consumer Reports rated the company's Autopilot autonomous driving software "a distant second" to the Super Cruise driving tech offered by General Motors.
Things could have continued going poorly for Tesla today, with Automotive News reporting that Germany's Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Agency) has levied a $14 million fine against Tesla "alleging its non-compliance under applicable laws relating to market participation notifications and take-back obligations with respect to end-of-life battery products required thereunder."
Instead, Tesla stock is going up today, up 4.1% as of 10:20 a.m. EST, despite the fine. Why?
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
First and foremost, $14 million is kind of like pocket change for Tesla, which did $8.8 billion in revenue last quarter alone, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Plus, Tesla may not even have to pay the fine. As Tesla explained, in fact it "has continued to take back battery packs" and the fine really relates "primarily to administrative requirements" on how it does this. In any case, Tesla is appealing the fine and, whether it wins or loses, does not expect to suffer "a material adverse impact on our business."
Plus, all of these facts were revealed in Tesla's 10-Q filing on Oct. 26, so while AN is just getting around to reporting them today, they were probably already baked into the stock's price before this.
Now what
Meanwhile, in China, where Tesla now has a factory operating at full speed, news of a different sort is helping to lift shares of the electric-car maker. Reuters cites Chinese government sources predicting that sales of electric (and plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell) cars will surge to account for 20% of all new car sales by 2025.
If correct, this prediction would quadruple the current market share of electric car companies like Tesla in China, boosted by a "green car quota system" that will "guide automakers to make more environmentally friendly vehicles."
Today, this news is already guiding investors to buy Tesla stock.
