The Top Questions Tesla Shareholders Want Musk To Address At Thursday's Annual Meeting

Tesla, Inc.'s TSLA annual shareholder meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. ET. This will be a hybrid event, allowing limited in-person attendance at the company’s Giga Austin facility, while any shareholder as of June 6 could join the meeting virtually.

A live video webcast of the event is available for the public.

Tesla is likely to seek shareholder approval for its proposal to split shares in the ratio of 3:1. The company’s previous split was in 2020 when it implemented a 5-for-1 split and the stock went gangbusters following the corporate action.

Two influential proxy advisory firms – Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services, have asked investors to vote against the re-election of two Tesla board directors, MarketWatch reported. These firms have also recommended voting in favor of six of eight shareholder proposals, while Tesla has asked for voting against all eight.

Meanwhile, Tesla, has sought questions from its shareholders through the "Say" shareholder Q&A platform. About 2,170 questions have been submitted thus far.

Here are the top questions based on the number of votes received:

When The Stock Split Will Take Effect: Tesla stock has been climbing ahead of the decision on the stock split. This question received 4,800 votes from shareholders representing 302,100 shares.

Number Of Factories For Hitting Goals: The question “how many factories are necessary to achieve the long-term target of 20 million vehicles per year” received 2,800 votes from shareholders owning 739,600 Tesla stock. The company’s annual production run-rate was 930,422 units in 2021, and it delivered 936,172 units for the year. Since then, the company has opened two new Gigas in Austin and Berlin.

Related Link: Why This Analyst Thinks Tesla Is The Most 'American' Electric Vehicle Company

Tesla’s Cash Usage Plan: Investors, representing 852,800 shares of Tesla, want to know how the electric vehicle maker intends to use cash in the coming few years. They seem to want to know whether it will be on capital expenditure, buybacks, dividends, or acquisitions.
Incidentally, Tesla isn’t a dividend-paying company, nor has it bought back shares. It operates in a capital-intensive industry, requiring huge investments in products and services.

Cybertuck Pricing: Tesla shareholders also expressed interest in knowing whether those who ordered a Cybertruck before preorders were taken down will be considered under the terms that prevailed at the time of their order. The pricing of the EV truck was also of interest to many shareholders. The question received 2,700 votes.

How’s Tesla Preparations For Recession: Shareholders also wanted to know whether Tesla sees the recession as a challenge in 2023. Beyond layoffs, how is Tesla preparing for a potential recession, they asked.

Other most asked questions included:

• Timeline for Tesla Semi availability
• Real estate strategy for superchargers and Tesla restaurant locations in the U.S.
• Impact of the EV tax credit on demand and pricing of Tesla vehicles in 2023
• Tesla's take on the geopolitical risk between U.S. and China
• Update on “master plan” and Tesla’s focus for the next five to 10 years.

In premarket trading on Wednesday, Tesla stock was adding 1.58% to $916, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Created with an image from Steve Jurvetson on Flickr