More investors are betting against electric-car maker Tesla than any other U.S. stock, new data show.
The dollar amount of shares shorted on Tesla increased 28 percent in the last month to $10.7 billion, according to S3 Partners. The percentage of Tesla's available stock currently sold short exceeds 25 percent, according to FactSet.
"Tesla, which was overtaken by Apple as the largest U.S. equity short recently, is back on top of the league tables, a position it has held since March 2016," wrote Ihor Dusaniwsky, head of research at S3 Partners. "Tesla short sellers, after reducing their short exposure for the first two months of 2018, have reversed course and shorted Tesla stock heavily over the last five weeks."
Tesla offered no comment for this story.
The report from S3 partners comes a day after Goldman Sachs encouraged its clients to sell the stock, unconvinced Tesla will be able to meet even its Model 3 production targets.
"We believe the sustainable production rate for the second quarter of 2018 is most likely below the 2,000 vehicle mark the company achieved in the final week of the [first] quarter," Goldman analyst David Tamberrino wrote Tuesday. "We see the company likely sustaining Model 3 production around the 1,400 per week mark."
Tesla's chief executive, Elon Musk, has pushed back against the company's detractors. The CEO called out Goldman on Wednesday after the bank's gloomy forecast.
"Place your bets," Musk quipped on Twitter, appearing to challenge would-be sellers to exit at their own risk.
Tesla's share price has declined 2.2 percent this year.