Stocks rise after Tesla posts strong earnings
STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday as shares of Tesla soared on better-than-expected quarterly results, which helped offset a slide in telecom and energy shares.
The Dow finished up 0.51%. The S&P 500 rose 0.99%, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.36%.
Shares of Tesla ended 9.78% higher after the electric carmaker reported a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit, helped by price increases for its cars.
But Kevin Mahn, president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh Asset Management, said that - for him - there was just too much going on with the company's founder Elon Musk to invest in the stock.
"There's a lot going on with Tesla right now and obviously its founder and leader Elon Musk. Whether it's related to the proposed acquisition of Twitter, his reduction of his Bitcoin holdings by 75% to 25%, or his forecast for future electric vehicle production. As we know, there is a tremendous movement in our country, across the world for electric vehicles as part of this whole climate change mandate. So that should bode well for Tesla. But right now, there's just so much going on with the company and with the founder. It's really hard to disentangle all of those elements to feel good about putting more money into that company, at least for the time being."
Shares of AT&T fell 7.62%, sending other telecom stocks down as well after the wireless carrier cut its cash flow forecast saying some subscribers were delaying bill payments.
Energy stocks slipped on weak crude prices, with ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy both notching losses.
And shares of American Airlines and United Airlines plummeted even after both carriers posted their first quarterly profit without health crisis-related government aid, as the industry struggles to offset higher costs even amid booming travel demand.
