Elon Musk’s brother and Tesla board member, Kimbal Musk,is sellingmore Tesla shares.
Tesla board member and Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, disposed of some Tesla shares shortly ahead of plans by the EV maker to launch a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
Investors should probably check on the younger Musk’s track record in timing the market.
Generally, investors don’t like it when corporate insiders sell. They fear that the insiders know something they don’t. Still, there are many reasons executives sell stock, including tax planning, life circumstances, and charity.
Kimbal Musk, who is about 15 months younger than his brother, has disposed of Tesla stock more than a dozen times since 2020, according to company filings. Some sales are related to stock option exercises. There were charitable gifts, too. Some sales came after filing a 10b5-1 plan, which corporate insiders use to telegraph intent to sell, helping to assuage investors’ fears about insiders heading for the exits.
The recent transaction, disclosed this week, relates to the sale of almost 92,000 shares acquired via stock options awards worth some $31 million.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment from Barron’s about the sale.
How that disposition looks a few months from now, obviously, can’t be known yet. Barron’s, however, found that Kimbal Musk isn’t especially good at timing the market. That’s good news for investors. On Kimbal Musk’s sales that were examined, Tesla shares were higher about half the time three months after. Using Kimbal to trade Tesla stock is little better than a coin flip.
There is no good reason to look three months out. Any time horizon could be examined. It’s worth noting that Tesla stock was at roughly $60 a share in 2020 when Kimbal Musk started selling significant stock. In the long run, Kimbal Musk has cost himself money by not holding on.
Investors might be more attuned to sales currently, given the state of the stock and upcoming events. Coming into Thursday, Tesla stock has risen 50% since the company’s first-quarter earnings report on April 22. The surge came despite the consensus forecast for earnings in 2025 falling to $1.93 from $2.74 a share, according to FactSet, over the same period.
Optimism around artificial intelligence most likely has been driving shares higher. Tesla is set to launch an AI-trained robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, and investors are hopeful self-driving cars can unlock a new wave of growth for the car company.
The launch is certainly a big deal for the company and the industry, and investors will scrutinize Tesla’s robotaxi performance carefully. At least they don’t have to worry that Kimbal Musk’s sales are a significant signal about how things will turn out.
Tesla stock rose 0.4% on Thursday, closing at $358.43, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
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