Cars and Drivers

There Is Never a Wrong Time to Issue More Tesla Stock

tesla-model-s-blue
Source: courtesy of Tesla Motors
The latest secondary stock offering from Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was perhaps even a bigger success than expected. The company sold 2.7 million shares at a price of $242.00 a share, raising estimated net proceeds of around $642 million. The shares closed Thursday’s trading session at $242.51.

Underwriters for the offering included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank Securities, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities. The underwriters have an option to purchase an additional 404,239 shares, up from a prior level of 315,000. Tesla estimates that if the underwriters exercise all their options, net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $738.3 million.

According to the filing, Tesla plans to use the net proceeds of the offer to “accelerate the growth of our business in the U.S. and internationally.” That acceleration extends to the company’s stores, service centers, Supercharger network, the Tesla Energy business, the development and production of the company’s announced Model 3, the Tesla Gigafactory and other general corporate purposes.

Following the offering, the company projects 129.8 million shares outstanding (130.2 million if the underwriters exercise their option in full). That total does not include 20.5 million options, 1.76 million shares of restricted stock and 4.36 million shares available through the company’s share-based compensation program. The company’s board has authorized a total of 2.1 million shares of capital stock.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk has said he would purchase up to $20 million worth of the offered shares at the public offering price. Musk has acquired more shares of the company’s stock at each of its prior public sales.

The fact that Musk is willing to put his personal cash on the line helps keep the secondary offering price high. At Thursday’s closing price, the new shares were discounted just 0.2% from the selling price.

In premarket trading Friday, Tesla’s stock traded up about 1.4%, at $246.00 in a 52-week range of $181.40 to $291.42.

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