Some investors will have booked nice profits in shares of Tesla Motors this week. One of them is the company’s chief financial officer, Deepak Ahuja, who made over half a million dollars as part of a pre-determined sales plan.
On Monday, Tesla, which makes electric cars, revised its profits forecast for the first quarter, which helped its stock rise 16 percent on the day. On that day, Mr. Ahuja pocketed profits of around $573,000 on Tesla stock.
The executive converted 20,000 options on Tesla shares into stock, which he then immediately sold. He received the options as part of his compensation.
Shanna Hendriks, a Tesla spokeswoman, said the selling plan began in March last year. The sale was not timed, she said, to coincide with the company’s announcement on Monday. “There’s no way in 2012 there’d be that kind of visibility into 2013,†said Ms. Hendriks. Under the plan, “sales are managed by a third party broker and no feedback is permitted from the plan participant on the timing of the sale.â€
At 20,000 shares, the sale was larger than recent transactions, which have taken place in batches of 5,000 or 10,000 shares. Ms. Hendriks said, “The reason the sale was higher, is because the formula for his sales is set at a pre-determined strike price, with an additional number of shares set to sell as the stock price goes higher.â€
Tesla has become the subject of an increasingly intense stock market battle. It has doubters who are betting against its shares because they don’t believe there’s substantial demand for the high-end cars that Tesla makes. But in recent months, as the company has started to report sales numbers for its sedan, its shares have climbed.
Mr. Ahuja’s sale was fortunately timed for another reason: It shielded him from a stock price drop later in the week. After Tesla announced a leasing program that didn’t impress investors, the shares fell 7 percent. On Thursday, they closed up 2 percent.
