Tesla Stock More Popular Than Ever with Individuals: WSJ

Tesla’s stock has been popular this year, and retail investors have been no exception to this fact. With tens of billions spent on Tesla shares already purchased this year, the company outpaces any other security by far, and they’re already on track to beat records from last year.

Above: A Tesla valve stem cap (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Investors have spent a net $13.6 billion on Tesla shares in 2023, according to Vanda Research and as detailed in a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. Vanda also notes that the figure is rapidly approaching the stock’s $17 billion in net share purchases throughout all of last year, a record sum for the company.

Additionally, investor interest in Tesla’s shares have far outweighed those of other securities, and by a wide margin, as pointed out by Giacomo Pierantoni, head of data at Vanda.

“The aggregate retail inflows into Tesla have never been higher,” Pierantoni said.

In the final week of February, the five-day moving average of Tesla’s net one-day purchases from individuals reached around $460 million, says Vanda. The next-most-popular security, the SPDR S&P 500 ETC hadn’t even reached $150 million.

Pierantoni also added that individual investor purchases of Tesla shares have likely comprised of a roughly-55-percent jump in the clean energy company’s jump in stock prices so far in 2023. Retail investors and fans of the company have taken every opportunity to support it financially, no matter the stock’s performance.

Above: Two top Tesla watchers debate the bull vs. bear cases for the stock (Video: CNBC / YouTube).

Last year, as Tesla’s share prices took a nosedive, investors accelerated purchases and bought the dip. The same can be said of Tesla’s bottom on January 3, and of nearly every other low the automaker’s stock has faced in the last few years.

Even Webull CEO Anthony Denier points to Tesla as the most popular amongst individual investors, and the recent lows only fueled the fire in these camps.

“Tesla reigns supreme on our platform,” Denier said. “We’ve seen a huge spike in volume since December.”

One investor, Durga Bobba, bought Tesla shares for the first time in December as the company’s stock tumbled.

“I saw the stock go to a multiyear low and thought, ‘If I’m ever going to do it, now’s the time,’” Bobba said.

Already having seen gains on the investment, Bobba also notes that the stock is a popular one among peers.

“I’m a marketing guy, and the broad appeal was the No. 1 reason I bought Tesla,” Bobba added. “People love it, regardless of age and gender. I bought it for about $110 a share and I’m very happy. I probably will never sell.”

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