Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA), Aetna Inc. (AET): Whoa! These Two Stocks Had Healthy Returns Yesterday

With platinum and palladium prices closing lower today, though, don’t be surprised to see NAP give back some of yesterday’s gains.

Charging forward
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) also raced ahead yesterday, rising 16%, after achieving first-quarter profitability. I’ve been something of a bear on the luxury electric-car maker, impressed with the vehicle it produces but skeptical of its long-term viability. And while it made it into the black as company founder Elon Musk promised, the achievement is much ado about nothing, and because the preannouncement didn’t include any hard and fast financial data, there’s little to go on to understand how it achieved it.

Sales appear to be strong, doubling in the first quarter the number sold in the fourth, but I’d caution that the news that the company won’t be producing the cheaper Model S anymore could be a yellow flag for the carmaker.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) said only 4% of its customers chose the lower-end car, making it uneconomical to continue producing, so it’ll go with just its higher-end version and will include the Supercharger upgrade package in it. By doing so, however, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is narrowing its market in what’s already seen as a limited field, so whether its profitability can be maintained — assuming it was achieved without financial gymnastics to begin with — is still a big question mark.

The stock has achieved new highs, but I’m not convinced that this carmaker is a keeper just yet.

The article Whoa! These 2 Stocks Had Healthy Returns Yesterday originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ford, Tesla Motors , and UnitedHealth Group and owns shares of Ford and Tesla Motors.

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