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Tesla investors push for June 6 vote on overhaul of company board structure

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The Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds (CRPTF) filed a proposal with Tesla in an attempt to transition the governing board’s structure to “better meet challenges the company now faces as a maturing public company.”

The proposal will be voted on by shareholders in Tesla’s 2017 annual meeting on June 6th, 2017. In support of the proposal, the CRPTF sent a letter to investors advocating its position on the proposal, requesting they vote “FOR” the proposal.

It is looking for a change from the current structure by creating a board that would be up for election annually, as a means of creating a management team more focused on delivering near term results and to ensure “board independence and director succession planning”. The CRPTF nebulously notes that it is seeking the change to create more continuity in the company.

“We believe the annual election of directors will incentivize more consistent communication between the board and long-term shareholders and strengthen alignment of interests in addressing these challenges.”

The proposal specifically calls out several risk areas based on relationships between board members outside of Tesla:

  • Both the Elon Musk Revocable Trust and Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother and a Tesla director, are investors in funds advised by Valor Management Corp., of which Mr. Gracias is CEO.
  • Mr. Ehrenpreis and a fund he manages are investors in SpaceX, a company founded and led by Elon Musk.
  • Mr. Jurvetson is a managing director of a firm that is a “significant stockholder” in SpaceX and the Elon Musk Revocable Trust is an investor in a fund managed by the firm.

The motion continues the push by the CRPTF to shift the governance model of Tesla to what it deems a more stable structure poised to set the company up to perform well against other companies of its size. The CRPTF previously pushed Tesla to add new members that were independent from Elon Musk, something the company said it was already working on in parallel to the effort by the CRPTF. The current board is comprised of members with complex financial and family ties to Musk including his brother Kimball who has been on the board since 2004 and holds a significant amount of Tesla stock.

The letter from the CRPTF ironically cites financial studies based on traditional business models without recognizing that Tesla’s success is largely as a result of its unwillingness to follow conventional wisdom, instead building businesses from a blank sheet of paper on up.

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“Finally, we believe that annual accountability can lead to increased company performance. Academic studies have found that classified boards are associated with lower firm valuation, poorer pay/performance alignment, a lower likelihood of CEO termination in the event of poor performance, and a higher likelihood of value-destroying acquisitions. Annual director elections have also been found to correlate with greater R&D expenditures that are important for future success.”

In the past, Musk has railed publicly against external pressure to modify the current structure within Tesla which is understandable based on his history. He lost control of X.com through the merger with PayPal, and coming out of the eventual sale he vowed not to let future companies slip out of his control.

Source: Tesla Investor Relations

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Investor's Corner

Tesla analyst’s firm has sold its entire TSLA position: Here’s why

Tesla analyst Gary Black revealed his firm, The Future Fund, has sold their entire $TSLA holding.

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tesla showroom
(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla analyst Gary Black of The Future Fund revealed today that his firm has sold its entire $TSLA holding, marking the first time since 2021 that it has not had a position in the company’s stock.

Black has been a skeptic of the company and relatively pessimistic regarding some things many investors would consider catalysts, outlining his concerns and reasoning for selling the shares.

Much of Black’s reasoning concerns Tesla’s price-to-earnings ratio, delivery results and potential delivery figures for the future, and other near-term projects that he does not believe will yield as much value as others perceive.

We will break down each concern of Black’s below:

‘Disconnected from Underlying Fundamentals’

Black says that The Future Fund sold its holdings at $358 per share. The firm’s current price target is at $310, and he says it will remain there based on “our forecast of 2030 Tesla volumes of 5.4m and 2030 Adj EPS of $12.

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Main Concern is P/E Ratio

The main concern Black and The Future Fund have is that TSLA “now sells at a 2025 P/E of 188x as earnings estimates continue to fall (-5% in the past week, -40% YTD) driven by weak YTD deliveries, including weak April results.”

Black says he believes quarterly deliveries will decline by 12 percent, and full-year by 10 percent.

This compares to Wall Street’s estimates of a 7 percent decrease for Q2 and a 5 percent year-over-year.

Robotaxi Skepticism

“We believe the risk/reward associated with the Austin robotaxi test remain asymmetrical to the downside,” Black writes in his post on X.

Tesla Robotaxi deemed a total failure by media — even though it hasn’t been released

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Many believe the Robotaxi platform could be Tesla’s biggest catalyst moving forward, especially as other automakers do not seem to have even close to as robust a solution to self-driving as Tesla.

Tesla’s Affordable Models

Black says there are concerns the affordable model will be “a stripped-down Model Y priced lower and funded by lower costs rather than a new form factory that expands TAM.”

This is confusing, especially considering the cheaper price tag would expand the total addressable market (TAM) to begin with. The Model Y has been the best-selling vehicle in the world for the past two years.

Tesla still on track to release more affordable models in 1H25

Introducing an even lower-cost model with some missing features would still likely be a significantly more attractive option than a base model ICE vehicle, especially because the value Full Self-Driving provides would make the car more beneficial.

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“This increases odds that FY’25 estimates decline further, risking a repeat of 2023-2024, when TSLA reduced EV prices supported by lower costs, and TSLA saw little or no incremental volume growth,” he finishes with.

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Tesla set for ‘golden age of autonomous’ as Robotaxi nears, ‘dark chapter’ ends: Wedbush

Tesla is set to win big from the launch of the Robotaxi platform, Wedbush’s Dan Ives said.

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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to kick off its own “golden age of autonomous growth” as its Robotaxi platform nears launch and a “dark chapter” for the company has evidently come to a close, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

Ives has jostled his price target on Tesla shares a few times already this year, usually switching things up as the market sways and the company’s near-term outlook changes. His price target on Tesla has gone from $550 to $315 to $350 back to $500 this year, with the newest adjustment coming from a note released early on Friday.

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As CEO Elon Musk has essentially started to dwindle down his commitment to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) altogether, Ives believes that Tesla’s “dark chapter” has come to a close:

“First lets address the elephant in the room…2025 started off as a dark chapter for Musk and Tesla as Elon’s role in the Trump Administration and DOGE created a life of its own which created brand damage and a black cloud over the story….but importantly those days are in the rear-view mirror as we are now seeing a recommitted Musk leading Tesla as CEO into this autonomous and robotics future ahead with his days in the White House now essentially over.”

Ives believes Tesla’s launch of Robotaxi should be the company’s way to unlock at least $1 trillion in value alone, especially as the Trump White House will fast-track the key initiatives the automaker needs to get things moving in the right direction:

“The $1 trillion of AI valuation will start to get unlocked in the Tesla story and we believe the march to a $2 trillion valuation for TSLA over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose.”

There are some concerns moving forward, but none of which relate to the AI/autonomous play that Ives primarily focuses on within the Friday note. Instead, they are related to demand in both Europe and Asia, as Ives said, “there is still wood to chop to turn around Model Y growth” in both of those markets.

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Nevertheless, the big focus for Ives is evidently the launch of Robotaxi and the potential of the entire autonomous division that Tesla plans to offer as a ride-sharing service in the coming months. Ives also believes a 50 percent or more penetration of Full Self-Driving could totally transform the financial model and margins of Tesla moving ahead.

Aware of the setbacks Tesla could encounter, Ives still believes that Tesla will establish itself as “the true autonomous winner over” and that investors will recognize the AI vision the company has been so bullish on.

Ives pushed his price target to $500. Tesla shares are down just under 1% at the time of publication. They are trading at $337.88 at 11:45 on the East Coast.

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Investor's Corner

X clarifies xAI prediction market rumors, hints at future plans

Musk’s AI firm denied rumors of a Kalshi deal but left the door open. Prediction markets + AI could change how we forecast everything.

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Credit: xAI

X dismissed rumors of xAI entering prediction market partnerships. In a recent X post, Elon Musk’s company clarified that xAI had not yet entered formal partnerships in the prediction market.

However, xAI clarification hinted at future exploration in the prediction market, aligning with X’s goal to become an “everything app.” The speculation underscores AI’s potential to reshape predictive analytics.

“Recent speculation about xAI’s involvement in the prediction market space has been circulating. While we’re enthusiastic about the potential of this industry and engaged in various discussions, no formal partnerships have been confirmed to date. Stay tuned!” noted the X team.

X’s statement followed a Tuesday post by Kalshi, hinting at a collaboration with xAI, which was deleted hours later. Kalshi suggested that xAI could leverage AI to analyze X’s news and social media data, enhancing betting decisions on political and economic events.

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Bloomberg reported Kalshi aims to use xAI for tailored insights, enabling users to wager on outcomes like Federal Reserve rate changes or elections through derivative contracts.

“There’s deep alignment between prediction markets, social media, and AI. Prediction markets capture what people know — AI scales what people can know,” said Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. “This is just the beginning of a long collaboration to unlock the full potential of prediction markets.”

The prediction market industry fits X’s vision to evolve into a comprehensive platform, capitalizing on its trend and news leader role. While xAI’s denial quashes immediate partnership claims, its openness to discussions signals potential interest in prediction markets, where AI could amplify real-time insights.

xAI’s cautious stance reflects its focus on strategic AI development while navigating speculative buzz. As X pursues its “everything app” ambition, prediction markets could enhance its ecosystem, blending social media’s pulse with AI-driven analytics. With no partnerships confirmed, xAI’s future moves may yet redefine how users engage with event-based predictions, positioning it at the forefront of AI innovation.

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