The manufacturer of high-end electric vehicles will miss an important deadline.
Tesla’s (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report investors and fans will have to wait — patiently or not.
Many of them had May 2 marked on their calendars as the date on which the manufacturer of high-end electric vehicles was to file its proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company, like the rest of the public companies, had 120 days after the Dec. 31 fiscal-year end to make the disclosure. The report is of particular importance right now since the Austin EV group last month declared a stock split.
The 120 days fell on April 30, a Saturday, so the members of the investment community and Musk’s fanbase waited till May 2 to consult the document.
They’ll wait a little longer. The company has just indicated that it needs additional time to prepare the document.
“We currently expect that our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders will be filed later than the 120th day after the end of the last fiscal year,” the company said in a SEC filing on May 2.
It didn’t provide additional information, like when it plans to file the proxy statement. Investors still don’t know the details of the proposed stock split.
The Company Needs More Time to File
Tesla had proposed the split in March. “Tesla will ask shareholders to vote at this year’s annual meeting to authorize additional shares in order to enable a stock split,” the firm posted on Twitter on March 28.
The company did not give details and investors pinned their hopes on the proxy statement. Some investors feared that a split would dilute their holdings. That doesn’t happen. A split increases the number of shares outstanding and cuts the price proportionately. It does not change the company’s market capitalization or the value of any one holder’s stake. It merely makes the shares cheaper to buy.
The company still has not announced a date for the 2022 shareholder meeting. Last year, the shareholder meeting was held in October. A shareholder vote in favor would enable the group to execute the stock split.
By making the share price more accessible, the company hopes to attract more investors and increase the liquidity — the trading activity — of its shares. Stock splits can also prompt stock-price rallies, as retail traders pile in, according to experts.
Tesla stock at last check was trading around $866. It’s trading about 30% below its 52-week high of $1,243, set in early November.
In August 2020 Tesla declared a 5-for-1 split, giving every Tesla holders five shares of the company for each one they owned.
The stock-split announcements have piled up in recent months. This year Google (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report, Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report, and GameStop (GME) – Get GameStop Corp. Class A Report. among others, have said they’d split their shares.
