Updated at 11:50 am EST
Tesla (TSLA) shares edged lower Thursday following the trading debut for clean-energy carmaker’s three-for-one stock split on the Nasdaq.
Tesla shareholders of record on August 17 were given two extra shares at the close of trading last night, following a vote to approve the split in early August. The overall market value of Tesla will remain unchanged from the split, but the price will adjust to reflect the larger number of outstanding shares.
The split follows a similar move by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) earlier this summer that left investors with one Google stock and a dividend payment of 19 more shares, all priced at around $120 each. Amazon (AMZN) completed its own 20-for-1 stock in June.
Tesla itself executed a five-for-1 stock split in the summer of 2020, when shares in the group were trading north of $2,000 each, as it prepared for inclusion in the S&P 500 benchmark later that same year.
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Tesla shares were marked 1% lower in early Thursday trading to change hands at $294.08 each.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors at the group’s annual general meeting last week that he expects to hit a production run-rate of around 2 million vehicles per year by December, and hinted at the construction of a new gigafactory to compliment existing facilities in Shanghai, Berlin, Austin and Freemont.
The update followed stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings in late July, where the group reiterated its goal for full-year delivery growth despite input price pressures and narrowing profit margins.
Tesla said it expects full year deliveries to grow 50% from 2021 levels, implying a target of 1.4 million vehicles that Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn said has become “more difficult but remains possible with strong execution.”
China’s ‘zero Covid’ health policies, however, took a bite out of Tesla’s second quarter output, while scheduled maintenance at its Shanghai factory lead to a steep decline in July sales and exports from the world’s biggest car market.
Tesla sold 28,217 China-made cars last month, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said Tuesday, with around 19,756 of the units exported to other markets.
The figures represent a sharp decline when compared to the 78,000 units sold in June, although the decline was linked to production suspensions in Shanghai that kept the plant idle for much of the month as it re-tools various systems to allow for weekly unit expansion over the coming months.
Source: https://www.thestreet.com/markets/tesla-stock-higher-ahead-of-3-for-1-nasdaq-split-trading-debut?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo