The Tesla Stock Price Just Received This Major Catalyst for 2016

The Tesla stock price climbed 1.68% in intraday trading today (Tuesday) after The Wall Street Journal reported Tesla is looking to hire thousands of employees over the next several years.

Money Morning has been bullish on Tesla stock throughout 2015, and this hiring spree will be another catalyst for the Tesla stock price as we head into 2016…

CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Nov. 19 that he was looking for "hardcore software engineers" to work on the Autopilot software team at Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA). According to The Journal, Musk was planning on hiring just 100 applicants at the time, although his inbox was flooded with applications.

Musk will need to hold on to those applications. Over the next four years, Tesla's CEO plans to hire over 4,500 workers in California alone.

You see, Tesla faces more pressure than ever to find and retain top talent in the autonomous vehicle industry.

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) are both working on their own autonomous vehicles, and more traditional car manufacturers like Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE ADR: TM) are also entering the field.

According to Fortune, Toyota plans to build an autonomous vehicle by 2020.

And not only will the increased workforce keep Tesla ahead of the competition when it comes it autonomous vehicles, it also means Tesla can sell more of its Model S and Model X vehicles than ever before. By 2020, Pike Research expects annual worldwide sales of plug-in electric vehicles will reach 3.8 million. Tesla has sold just 22,100 Model S vehicles in 2015, so demand is expected to spike dramatically in the next five years.

While the projected hiring spree is moving the TSLA stock price today, there's a much bigger catalyst for the Tesla stock price heading into 2016…