Tesla stock was in green on Wednesday morning, with investors holding their positions ahead of the company’s highly anticipated annual shareholder meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The stock was up over 1.6% at $450.51 in early trading, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.
Today’s trading follows two volatile sessions earlier in the week: Tesla stock rose 2.6% on Monday, closing above $460 for only the sixth time, then dropped 5.1% on Tuesday as broader markets turned lower.
The Tuesday pullback coincided with Norway’s sovereign wealth fund announcing that it would vote against CEO Elon Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package, the central issue to be decided at Thursday’s meeting.
Shareholders prepare to vote on Musk’s Pay
Musk has tied the proposed compensation plan to his desire for increased ownership and voting control at Tesla, arguing it would allow him to safeguard the company’s artificial intelligence and robotics projects.
If rejected, analysts say the decision could inject fresh uncertainty into Tesla’s leadership structure and weigh on its stock.
Despite the pushback from some major investors, Wall Street largely expects shareholders to approve the deal.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note Wednesday that Musk’s $1 trillion pay package would likely receive “overwhelming shareholder approval.”
He added that maintaining Musk’s leadership is essential to Tesla’s future.
“The performance-based pay package is integral to keeping Musk at the helm of the company, which in turn is integral to the success of the company,” Ives wrote.
He also predicted strong backing for a proposal that would allow Tesla to invest in xAI, another of Musk’s ventures.
“We expect shareholders to show overwhelming support tomorrow for Musk and the xAI stake, further turning Tesla into an AI juggernaut with the autonomous and robotics future on the horizon,” Ives added.
The package has faced opposition from Tesla’s sixth-largest institutional investor, Norges Bank Investment Management, as well as from proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which cited governance and dilution concerns.
BYD gains ground on Tesla in Europe
While Tesla’s attention remains fixed on its shareholder meeting, Chinese rival BYD Co. continues to make major inroads in Europe, outpacing Tesla in key markets such as the UK and Germany.
In the UK, BYD registered nearly seven times more new cars than Tesla last month, according to the country’s automotive trade association.
Year-to-date, BYD’s sales have surged more than sixfold, while Tesla’s have declined 4.5%.
The trend is similar in Germany, where BYD registered four times as many vehicles as Tesla in October, according to data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
Through the first ten months of the year, BYD trails Tesla by just 424 cars, suggesting it could overtake its US rival before year-end.
BYD’s rapid rise marks a sharp reversal from last year, when it sold just 8,788 vehicles in the UK — a market that has since overtaken Germany as Europe’s largest for fully electric cars.
At the time, Tesla outsold BYD by nearly six to one.
This year, BYD has not only closed the gap but surged ahead, expanding its overseas footprint even as domestic demand in China slows amid tighter pricing competition.
Tesla, meanwhile, is facing headwinds across Europe due to a combination of intensifying competition, slower demand, and public backlash against Musk.
In Germany, the company’s new-vehicle registrations plunged 54% last month and are down about 50% for the year.
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