Morning Commentary: Tesla brings competition to software market; Luminar in focus

Chicago, July 20 – Midmorning, the S&P 500 index was off slightly, the Nasdaq-100 index was lower after Netflix, Inc. and Tesla Inc reported earnings, but the Dow Jones industrial average was moderately positive.

With indexes mixed, a corporate name that was in focus on Wednesday was still trending in the convertibles space Thursday morning: Luminar Technologies Inc.

Luminar’s 1.25% convertible bonds due Dec. 15, 2026 recently recrossed the 70 threshold in mid-July.

The bonds were trending approximately 1 point better on Thursday morning at around 72, compared with their afternoon trading on Wednesday, but coming in moderately from the end of day when they were reaching for 73, but not quite there.

The bonds’ Thursday morning moves were against a stock price that was off 6.77%.

Luminar’s share price was marked at $7.26 just before 11:30 a.m. ET.

The company is an Orlando, Fla.-based autonomous vehicle software company.

The negative move could be a reaction to Tesla’s news, presented in an investor presentation on Wednesday, that it plans to significantly invest in “Project Dojo,” autonomous vehicle software which would compete against Luminar.

This would be the second move by Tesla in the week that encroached on competitors.

The first was on Monday when Tesla’s first pickup was rolling off the line, just ahead of the company’s earnings announcement on Wednesday evening.

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