Most traded stocks this week: Tesla, NVIDIA and Microsoft

Most traded stocks of the week

Below is a list of the 20 most traded stocks among StoneX Retail clients during the five trading sessions to the end of play on Friday July 7. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been excluded.

Electric carmakers were in focus this week. Tesla shares hit fresh eight month highs last Wednesday before pulling back to end the week at $274.43, having gained momentum in the wake of reporting record deliveries in the second quarter. That, in turn, prompted more brokers to hike their target price, with Jefferies being the latest to up its view this morning, lifting its target price to $265 from $185. We also found out last week that Mercedes-Benz is the latest carmaker to gain access to Tesla’s charging network and that Tesla’s international expansion continues. France is trying to encourage the company to invest in the country and Tesla is expected to start selling its cars in Malaysia later this month.

Rivian shares popped to 2023-highs last week and has now gained ground for eight consecutive sessions. Markets have turned bullish on the electric carmaker since it delivered more vehicles than expected in the latest quarter and because it has shipped its first electric vans being made for Amazon, its largest customer and shareholder, to Europe. CEO RJ Scaringe also told Bloomberg last week that the supply chain is much healthier now than it was in the last quarter, which should help it ramp-up production as it tries to produce 50,000 vehicles this year. ‘We want to make sure we over-deliver on our numbers, over-deliver on our targets,’ he said.

Xpeng revved-up to a nine month high last week after predicting a significant acceleration in deliveries in the second half of 2023 thanks to the high demand for its new G6 electric crossover, with overall monthly sales expected to hit 15,000 in the third quarter – more than double what it produced in May and June. Deliveries should then climb to 20,000 a month in the fourth quarter. However, the brakes were applied to the rally as the price war in China continues, with a new rebate offered by Tesla hitting smaller Chinese rivals. Sentiment also turned on Friday after Bocom International downgraded the stock to Sell and warned the stock was too expensive and that estimates for its new G6 model are ‘too rosy’.

Other Chinese stocks including search engine giant Baidu and retail giants Pinduoduo and JD.com were also popular last week as investors bank that the government will introduce new stimulus measures to get the economy growing following a lacklustre first half, and because sentiment improved on signs that its regulatory crackdown on tech firms is ending after drawing a line under its probe into financial giant Ant Group, which is part-owned by Alibaba.

Back in the US, chipmakers NVIDIA and AMD remained among the most traded stocks. NVIDIA managed to gain some ground last week but remains below the all-time highs we saw last month as markets question its lofty valuation, especially in light of rising tensions between the US and China. That is reinforced by the fact we saw Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management sell $2.7 million worth of shares in NVIDIA and buy a commensurate amount of stock in AMD, which has a much lower valuation multiple. That suggests some believe NVIDIA is at profit-taking levels while others are offering better value. Phillip Securities reinstated coverage of AMD this morning with an Accumulate rating and sees about 10% potential upside from current levels. That follows on from Friday, when Northland Capital Markets said it sees greater upside potential of around 33% in AMD shares.

Meta hit an 18-month high last week after launching its new social media platform named Threads, which is designed to compete directly with Twitter. The platform is thought to have attracted 100 million users within the first five days of being launch. Twitter has threatened to sue the company, with CEO Elon Musk tweeting that ‘competition is fine, but cheating is not’ in response to reports of a potential lawsuit. 

Apple just about managed to retain its $3 trillion valuation last week as shares slumped from all-time highs. The new Vision Pro headset has provided new momentum as it represents its first new product since 2015, but reports last week suggested Apple has had to scale back production because partners are having trouble with the complexity of its design. That, in turn, is thought to have prompted Apple to introduce plans to sell the headset through in-store appointments in select locations in the US early next year before rolling-out nationwide, with international markets not expected to see it on shelves until the end of 2024.

Microsoft struggled to book gains last week despite Morgan Stanley announcing it expects it to join the $3 trillion valuation club within the next year, naming it as it as its Top Pick amongst large cap software companies. It believes generative AI will significantly expand the scope of its business and that its valuation remains reasonable despite the surge seen in 2023.

Amazon shares are lingering below recent 10-month highs. Notably, the ecommerce giant will be holding its Prime Day sales event this week, although we could see disruption from a planned strike by workers that are demanding better pay. Last week, we discovered European antitrust regulators are opening up an in-depth probe into its proposed takeover of iRobot. Meanwhile, CEO Andy Jassy rejected the idea Amazon could spin-off its cloud-computing arm Amazon Web Services, which makes the bulk of the company’s profits, during an interview with CNBC.

Disney followed the broader markets lower last week, with the House of Mouse having underperformed and lost ground since the start of the year. Sentiment has remained subdued as its streaming services remain loss-making, with its profitable rival Netflix having soared higher in 2023, and because any slowdown this year could impact visitors to its theme parks, resorts and cruises.

Shopify closed down every single session last week to close at a one-month low, with the selloff accelerating in the latter-end of the week as tech and growth stocks took a hit from rising interest rate expectations and heightened risks of a recession.

Coinbase shares hit their highest level in almost four months at the start of last week but has struggled to find higher ground since then. That defied the fall in bitcoin prices, which are currently just about holding above the $30,000 threshold, and a downgrade from Piper Sandler fuelled by fears that trading volumes have hit two-year lows and worries over regulatory pressure being applied to the cryptocurrency industry. That followed on from a warning from Berenberg the week before that the recent rally in the sector, helped along by bets that we will see a bitcoin ETF launched this year, could be short-lived.

ImmunoGen shares have remained under pressure since soaring to eight year highs last month, when it found support from positive trial results from its drugs, including treatments for ovarian cancer and rare blood diseases.

Carnival shares have fallen back since hitting their highest level in almost 15 months last week as it too succumbed to deteriorating sentiment over rising interest rates and a possible slowdown in growth. Carnival and other cruise line operators have been among the best performers in 2023 as the recovery from the pandemic continues.

easyJet shares also declined toward the end of the week for similar reasons as markets fret that any downturn could stifle demand for travel. It has also been swept up by industrial action in Europe, having cancelled 1,700 flights out of Gatwick this summer because of strike-induced disruption to air traffic control, while news that the Dutch government plans to limit capacity at Schiphol Airport this summer also knocked confidence.

Lloyds fell last week as brokers cut their target price on the bank and fears about economic growth weighed on the sector. UK ministers met with executives from Lloyds and other banks last week to urge them to raise the rates offered on savings account. The slowdown in the property market is of extra significance to Lloyds as it not only hurts demand for mortgages but also impacts its big push to become a landlord and grow its property portfolio.

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