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Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shareholders are now only ten days away from learning if Elon Musk’s 2018 compensation package will be approved by the board. While a recent survey by the firm backed up the general expectation the proposal will be approved, Morgan Stanley thinks investors need to pay close attention to the vote announcement on July 13 due to its significance to the long-term strategic direction of the electric vehicle giant.
“We believe that CEO Elon Musk needs Tesla now more than ever, as AI is a capital game – the broader collection of Elon Musk’s businesses may collectively invest many tens of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in coming years, and cost of capital is deterministic for AI supremacy,” highlighted analyst Adam Jonas and his team.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are seen falling by as much as 10% if the proposal is not approved by shareholders. Options trading is elevated on TSLA ahead of the shareholder meeting, and with Tesla’s (TSLA) Q2 deliveries report due out in the first few days of July.
Several proxy advisory firms have recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal due to the potential negative effect for individual shareholders. “The excessive size of the award, both on a pure dollar basis and in terms of the dilutive effect upon exercise, remains very much top of mind,” warned Glass Lewis. “The Company’s provided rationale does little to combat these concerns given their proportionate magnitude,” noted the firm. Proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services also voiced similar concerns.
Short interest on Tesla (TSLA) stands at 3.78% of the total float, which is higher than the level of a few weeks ago. TSLA inched up 0.31% at 11:38 a.m. on Monday to $178.79 vs. the 52-week trading range of $138.80 to $299.29.
