After a negative start to the year, Tesla Inc. TSLA shares have turned the corner amid hopes that the worst may be behind the company. Much of the buying reportedly came from retail investors.
Tesla’s Price Action: After shedding a whopping 65% in 2022, Tesla started 2023 on the back foot. Reacting to a quarterly delivery miss, the stock fell over 12% on Jan. 3, the first trading session of the year. Tesla has since then recovered from the intraday low of $104.64 hit during the session.
See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tesla Stock
The stock has moved in a range of $104.64-$125.95 thus far this year, recording a peak-trough change of a positive 20.4%. On Thursday, it settled up 0.28%, at $123.56, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Chart via Benzinga Pro
Retail Frenzy Picks Up: Tesla stock saw a record net buying by individual investors this past Tuesday, with the measure at $316 million, data from Vanda Research showed, Wall Street Journal reported. Net retail buying, the differential between purchases and sales, was at a robust $300 million on Wednesday, it said.
The strong interest among the retail crowd makes one think the stock is probably assuming meme stock status. A meme stock is one which is sought after by retail investors especially due to its popularity on social media. There is no dearth of Tesla backers and influencers as well Elon Musk fans on the Internet, giving it the kind of popularity meme stocks typically get. And hard data supports surging retail interest.
“Faith in Musk’s company is still robust,” Vanda reportedly said in a report.
Key Few Weeks Ahead: Sentiment toward the stock is slowly improving after the fourth-quarter deliveries-induced hit, noted Tesla bull and Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a tweet. Some of the improvement is attributable to the whisper number coming down for 2023, he said. Whisper numbers are unofficial estimates of the Street.
Also, the analyst noted that the Twitter noise is dissipating. He cautioned that the next few weeks are key for Tesla and its CEO Musk. The company is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 25.
“Overall demand and margin picture solid in a darker macro,” he added.
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