Tesla Stock Is Sliding Tuesday: What's Going On?

Tesla Inc TSLA shares are trading lower ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting this week, which includes a proposal regarding CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 pay package.

What To Know: Tesla shareholders have until Thursday to vote on a 2018 pay package — currently worth around $46 billion — that would award Musk stock options worth billions for driving significant growth at Tesla over the last five years.

Votes have been coming in for weeks, but according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, the decision is expected to come down to the wire as investors are split on the decision.

The report indicates that the outcome will likely be determined by how many of Tesla's individual investors end up voting and how many large institutional investors vote at the last minute. 73% of shareholders voted in favor of the pay package in 2018 before Musk hit milestones that most believed were unreachable.

Many believe that if Tesla does not get the votes needed to pass the proposal, it could weigh on Musk's willingness to focus on Tesla compared to his other businesses. Musk previously said he would be “uncomfortable” growing Tesla to be a leader in AI and robotics without having approximately 25% voting control. “Enough to be influential,” he said.

Bernstein analyst Tony Sacconaghi released a new note this week arguing that it will be hard to get enough votes to approve the proposal. The analyst is calling for a 5% drop in Tesla stock if the proposal fails on Thursday. Sacconaghi has a Sell rating and price target of $120 on Tesla stock.

On the bright side, if the proposal fails to get enough support for approval, Tesla would end up with a smaller share count, which would help boost earnings per share, the analyst said.

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TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares are down approximately 31% year-to-date. The stock was down 2.45% at $169.57 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Tesla.