Tesla Beats SPY, Apple, Amazon And QQQ In This Metric Amid Stock's 60%+ Rally This Year

Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla Inc. TSLA is gradually transforming into a retail crowd favorite — a phrase that was used to refer to meme stocks that rallied through the roof amid frenzied buying interest in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Happened: Retail buying of Tesla stock has been rising, setting fresh daily records, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Vanda Research. The retail crowd has reportedly lapped up a net $13.6 billion of Tesla shares in 2023.

See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tesla Stock

This compares to about $17 billion in net purchases seen for the whole of 2022.

The interest in Tesla has been higher than for any other security in 2023, Vanda’s research showed. The five-day moving average of retail one-day purchases of Tesla stock totaled $460 million in the last week of February, notably higher than the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, which attracted a far less $150 million in net inflows.

The Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ, Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon Inc. AMZN followed with only a fraction of retail buying Tesla could muster.

When Tesla stock shed 65% in 2022, retail buyers held onto their favorite stock, supporting it through thick and thin.

Why It’s Important: Sell-side analysts have now tempered expectations for Tesla stock, given its 60.6% year-to-date rally. The average analysts’ price target for the stock, compiled by TipRanks, is $208.48, suggesting a modest 5% upside from current levels.

Analysts are convinced of the long-term prospects for the company but are cautious about the near term. The company has been contending with economic uncertainties and competitive pressure, especially due to a lack of low-end models.

Institutions have also been warming up to Tesla. The Elon Musk-led company, which has lower institutional ownership relative to other mega-cap stocks, has seen an uptick in institutional buying recently.

Data shared by Tesla investor and fund manager Gary Black showed that institutional ownership in the stock increased to 47.5% of the outstanding shares at the end of February compared to 45.5% three months ago.

Price Action: In premarket trading, Tesla shares were rising 0.63%, to $199.03, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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