Dividends, AI, Electric Vehicles Are Top 2023 Investing Themes: Retail Investor Survey

In 2023, one of the rising themes for investors to consider is artificial intelligence.

A new survey shows how important artificial intelligence is as an investment theme — and as a possible tool to help investors along the way.

What Happened: A report from investing platform Public highlights where investors are looking to invest in the second half of 2023 and what they think about the rise of artificial intelligence.

The new survey of retail investors reveals the following as the most prioritized investment strategies in the second half of 2023, with respondents able to choose all that apply:

• Thematic: dividend investing: 50%
• Thematic: artificial intelligence: 36%
• Core: total stock market index: 36%
• Thematic: renewable energy: 32.6%
• Core: big tech: 31.4%
• Fixed Income: Treasuries (T-Bills): 30.6%
• Thematic: electric vehicles: 27.1%
• Core: large cap stocks: 26%
• Core: small cap stocks: 23.7%
• Geo: emerging markets: 23.4%
• Alternative: real estate: 23.1%
• Alternative: gold/precious metals: 22.6%
• Core: mid-cap stocks: 18.9%
• Thematic: inflation protection: 13.1%
• Alternative: commodities: 11.7%
• Geo: China economy: 8.9%
• Geo: Europe: 6.6%
• Alternative: hedge fund strategy: 5.4%
• Fixed Income: broad based bond portfolio: 4.9%

Artificial intelligence has grown as an important investment area of focus in 2023. Public said that Nvidia Corporation NVDA was one of the top stocks by trading volume and pageviews on its platform.

“Many investors entered the markets in 2021 around the meme stock frenzy, but we are now seeing a long diversified approach as more investors are looking at fixed income, dividend investing and AI as new emerging trends,” Public GM of Investor Relations Katie Perry said.

Another theme that might not be reflected in the data above was the impact of news on particular stocks. Public investors were interested in Mattel MAT and Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD at an increased rate in the first half of 2023, which came on the heels of the release of the “Barbie” movie and calls for boycotts of the Bud Light brand, respectively.

The poll also asked how confident investors are in their investment portfolio. The answers were:

• Somewhat confident: 47.5%
• Very confident: 17.7%
• Not confident: 20.1%
• Not sure: 14.7%

Retail investors indicated their risk appetite has changed for the second half of 2023 and beyond. Of those polled, 31.1% said their risk appetite has increased, up from 16.7% in the January 2023 poll on the same question. The majority of people (51.2%) said they had no change in their risk appetite. Of those polled, 17.2% said their risk appetite has decreased, down from the 34.9% that answered the same question this way in January.

The confidence in portfolios and increased risk appetite comes with most respondents being comfortable with where the economy is headed. Of those polled, 59.9% of retail investors said they were optimistic or neutral about the economic outlook moving forward. The remaining 40.1% polled were pessimistic.

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Related Link: Public Now Offers Its Non-PFOF Investing Platform In UK: 'We Are Excited To Grow Our Footprint'

Artificial Intelligence for Investing Research: Along with investment ideas, the poll determined how important artificial intelligence is as an investment research tool.

When asked if artificial intelligence is used to conduct investment research, the answers were as follows:

• Yes, often: 5.3%
• Yes, occasionally: 14.1%
• No, but interested in learning: 49.5%
• No, not interested: 31.1%

Of those who use artificial intelligence for investing, these were the top reasons retail investors gave for using it for research:

• Analyze specific stocks/assets: 64.2%
• Analyze/understand sectors: 52.8%
• Comparing companies or assets: 43.5%
• Researching financial statements: 42%
• The poll from Public shows that only 19.4% of retail investors that took part in the questions are now using artificial intelligence for investment research. The key in the poll might be the 49.5% of retail investors who are not using articial inteligence, but are open to learning. 
• Those who are using artificial intelligence are using it a number of ways, including to analyze stocks, assets and sectors they may be exploring as investment opportunities. 

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Photo via Pixabay.