InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is in a bit of a tailspin recently. Since topping $1,200 per share last fall, Tesla shares have fallen to the mid-$600 range per share today. Despite that recent decline, however, the stock has still rallied tremendously over a longer term horizon.
As a result, Tesla's management announced a forthcoming three-for-one stock split on Friday. Will this upcoming stock split be enough to get Tesla stock moving forward again? Here's what you need to know.
Ticker Company Price TSLA Tesla, Inc. $639.30
Tesla Asks for Shareholder Approval
First off, the proposed split isn't a done deal yet. Oftentimes, companies simply announce a stock split and that's that. However, in this case, Tesla needs to obtain shareholder approval to execute its planned stock split.
This is because Tesla currently has a cap at a maximum of two billion authorized shares of outstanding Tesla stock. However, there are currently 1,036,390,569 shares of existing TSLA stock. This means that Tesla will have roughly 3.1 billion shares of stock after its proposed split, which is well over the present two billion cap. Thus, Tesla is requesting shareholder approval for an Authorized Shares Amendment to lift the permittable outstanding share count well above three billion. There's no reason to think, however, that shareholders would fail to approve this request.
Why Is Tesla Splitting its Stock?
Tesla stock has been trading at a high nominal price for quite awhile. So what explains the company's move to split the stock right now? In its proxy statement, Tesla called out its employee compensation as a primary driver behind the move:
"We believe the Stock Split would help reset the market price of our common stock so that our employees will have more flexibility in managing their equity, all of which, in our view, may help maximize stockholder value. In addition, as retail investors have expressed a high level of interest in investing in our stock, we believe the Stock Split will also make our common stock more accessible to our retail shareholders."
In addition, as that statement highlights, Tesla believes this will make TSLA stock more appealing for retail investors. And that's probably true. Here's why.
What's it Mean for Tesla Shareholders?
In a stock split, the value of your investment doesn't change. If you own 100 shares of Tesla stock at $750 per share on the day of the split, for example, you'll own 300 shares at the new split price of $250 once the transaction goes into effect. In each case, the underlying stock is worth $75,000.
While the stock split itself doesn't change an investment's value, it can change sentiment. As Tesla's explanation above showed, it may help newer employees feel that the shares are still at an accessible price to invest in. Same goes for some investors who may not have much capital to work with. A $250 stock feels more approachable than a $750 one.
Finally, there's an impact in the options market, as well. To buy a call option on Tesla, for example, it often costs thousands of dollars per contract due to the high stock price of the underlying company. Making Tesla's stock cheaper will also make its corresponding options more affordable for average retail traders. As much of Tesla's overall trading activity occurs in put and call options, this split could help level the playing field for smaller investors.
TSLA Stock Verdict
To be clear, splitting one's stock isn't a foolproof move. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), for example, just issued a 20:1 stock split of its shares and that did nothing to support the stock price. AMZN stock fell 12% during the week as the split went into effect. So, to be clear, prevailing market conditions can outweigh factors such as a stock split.
In general, however, a stock split should be a positive event for a company's share price on average. And with Tesla shares down so sharply in recent months, any sort of positive catalyst could be enough to turn things around. It's not just the stock split either. On Friday, UBS (NYSE:UBS) upgraded TSLA stock and gave it a $1,100 price target. These factors could give Tesla a boost in coming weeks.
On the date of publication, Ian Bezek did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
The post Tesla's Stock Split: What You Need to Know appeared first on InvestorPlace.
InvestorPlace-股票市场新闻、股票建议和交易提示
$特斯拉(TSLA.US)$最近股市有点暴跌。自去年秋天突破每股1,200美元以来，特斯拉的股价今天已跌至每股600美元的中值区间。然而，尽管最近出现了下跌，但从较长期来看，该股仍大幅上涨。
因此，特斯拉管理层周五宣布了即将进行的三送一股票拆分。即将到来的股票拆分是否足以让特斯拉的股票再次向前推进？这是你需要知道的。
代码机 公司 价格 特斯拉特斯拉公司，639.30美元
特斯拉寻求股东批准
首先，拟议中的拆分还没有敲定。通常，公司只是简单地宣布股票拆分，仅此而已。然而，在这种情况下，特斯拉需要获得股东的批准才能执行其计划中的股票拆分。
这是因为特斯拉目前最多有20亿股特斯拉已发行股票的授权股份上限。不过，特斯拉目前的存量为1,036,390,569股。这意味着，在拟议的拆分后，特斯拉将拥有约31亿股股票，远高于目前20亿股的上限。因此，特斯拉正在请求股东批准一项授权股份修正案，将允许的流通股数量提高到远远超过30亿股的水平。然而，没有理由认为股东不会批准这一请求。
为什么特斯拉要拆分股票？
很长一段时间以来，特斯拉股票一直处于较高的名义价格。那么，如何解释该公司现在拆分股票的举动呢？在委托书中，特斯拉称其员工薪酬是这一举措背后的主要推动力：
我们相信，股票拆分将有助于重置我们普通股的市场价格，使我们的员工在管理他们的股本时有更大的灵活性，在我们看来，所有这些都可能有助于实现股东价值的最大化。此外，由于散户投资者对投资我们的股票表现出了高度的兴趣，我们相信股票拆分也将使我们的普通股更容易为散户股东所接受。
此外，正如这份声明强调的那样，特斯拉认为，这将使特斯拉的股票对散户投资者更具吸引力。这很可能是真的。原因如下。
这对特斯拉的股东意味着什么？
在股票拆分中，你的投资价值不会改变。例如，如果你在拆分当天以每股750美元的价格持有100股特斯拉股票，那么一旦交易生效，你将以新的拆分价格250美元持有300股特斯拉股票。在每一种情况下，标的股票的价值都是7.5万美元。
虽然股票拆分本身不会改变一项投资的价值，但它可以改变投资者的情绪。正如特斯拉上面的解释所表明的那样，这可能会帮助新员工感觉到，这些股票仍然处于可以投资的价格。对于一些投资者来说也是如此，他们可能没有太多的资本可供合作。250美元的股票比750美元的股票更容易接近。
最后，期权市场也会受到影响。例如，要购买特斯拉的看涨期权，由于标的公司的股价很高，每份合同的成本往往高达数千美元。让特斯拉的股票变得更便宜，也会让普通散户交易员更容易买得起相应的期权。由于特斯拉的整体交易活动有很大一部分发生在看跌期权和看涨期权上，这种拆分可能有助于为规模较小的投资者创造公平的竞争环境。
特斯拉股票的判决
需要明确的是，分拆股票并不是万无一失的举措。Amazon.com例如，纳斯达克(Sequoia Capital：AMZN)刚刚发行了20：1的股票拆分方案，但这对支撑股价毫无帮助。拆分生效后，AMZN的股价在一周内下跌了12%。因此，需要明确的是，当前的市场状况可能会超过股票拆分等因素。
然而，总的来说，股票拆分对一家公司的平均股价来说应该是一个积极的事件。近几个月来，特斯拉股价大幅下跌，任何积极的催化剂都足以扭转局面。这也不仅仅是股票拆分的问题。星期五，瑞银集团(纽约证券交易所股票代码：瑞银)上调特斯拉股票评级，将其目标价定为1,100美元。这些因素可能会在未来几周给特斯拉带来提振。
在本文发表之日，Ian Bezek并未(直接或间接)持有本文所述证券的任何头寸。本文中表达的观点是作者的观点，受InvestorPlace.com发布指南的约束。
特斯拉的股票拆分：你需要知道的事情首先出现在InvestorPlace上。
