Leo KoGuan, one of Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) largest individual shareholders, is calling on the company to provide an optimistic 2022 vehicle delivery guidance. KoGuan was revealed last year to hold over $7 billion worth of TSLA stock, making him one of the company’s most significant individual shareholders, just behind CEO Elon Musk and billionaire Larry Ellison.
The Singapore-based billionaire, who humbly dubs himself a retail shareholder, recently noted on Twitter that he is hoping Tesla would guide analysts this coming Q4 and FY 2021 earnings call with a 1.6-million vehicle delivery guidance for 2022. This, according to the investor, would help destroy fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) and provide a blow to the company’s bears.
KoGuan’s 1.6-million vehicle delivery estimate for this year is more optimistic than analysts’ current expectations. FactSet notes that analysts expect Tesla to post 1.47 million vehicle deliveries this year with a gross margin of 28.4% for its EVs sans regulatory credits. While optimistic, KoGuan later added that he believes his preferred 1.6-million vehicle delivery guidance still sets up an “underpromise/overdeliver/earnings surprise” story.
Apart from being one of TSLA’s largest individual investors, he is also the founder of SHI International Corp., an enterprise software company in suburban Somerset, New Jersey, USA. He noted that he picked up stock trading in 2019, initially placing investments in some well-known companies such as Baidu, NIO, and NVIDIA. As his bets eventually soured, he sold all of his positions except his Tesla holdings. KoGuan has been adding to his TSLA stake since.
Tesla is scheduled to hold its Q4 and Full Year 2021 earnings call on January 26, 2021 after markets close. Expectations are high that the company would post yet another profitable quarter, considering that it delivered a total of 936,172 vehicles in 2021, 308,600 of which were delivered in the fourth quarter.
Elon Musk is expected to share an updated product roadmap during the earnings call, which would likely to cover some developments on the Cybertruck and Tesla Semi program. The CEO is also expected to provide some details about the current state of the company’s two new factories, Gigafactory Berlin and Giga Texas, both of which are estimated to start operations this year.
Disclaimer: I am long TSLA.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.