Most traded stocks of the week

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Josh Warner
By :  ,  Former Market Analyst

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 March 24, 2023. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have been excluded. 

1

Plus500

11

Alibaba

2

Meta

12

Ordina

3

NVIDIA

13

Next

4

Microsoft

14

Block

5

Tesla

15

Lloyds Banking Group

6

Alphabet

16

UBS Group

7

Barclays

17

Deutsche Bank

8

Rolls Royce

18

Kingfisher

9

Charles Schwab

19

Netflix

10

THG Holdings

20

Shell

 

The fragility of the banking market remains at the forefront of the market’s mind, with a spike in credit default swaps at Deutsche Bank (-3%) last week triggering fresh fears about the health of the European banking system.

That comes in the wake of the rescue of Credit Suisse (+8.5) by its larger rival UBS Group (+10.4%). The Swiss government, which helped broker the deal, are due to meet this week to discuss the combination, which will see officials discuss how Credit Suisse executives can be held accountable and whether bonuses can be clawed back. They will also discuss whether stricter capital requirements or wage caps are needed in wake of the crisis.

In the US, Charles Schwab (-8.9%) has continued to be caught up in the volatility hitting the banking sector despite CEO Walt Bettinger saying last week that the bank can survive whatever turmoil comes its way. ‘There would be sufficient amount of liquidity right there to cover if 100% of our bank’s deposits ran off,’ he said. ‘Without having to sell a single security’.

UK banks remain on the radar, with Lloyds (+0.8%) and Barclays (+1.8%) both among the most traded stocks. HSBC (+0.7%) said that it believes share prices of UK banks could rebound swiftly as fears around the banking industry subside. ‘We’re not worried about liquidity issues for UK banks, as they run with high levels of central bank reserves and shouldn’t need to sell bond portfolios to meet deposit outflows,’ the bank said.

Elsewhere, Meta (+3.7%) closed at a 10-month high of $206 on Friday, driven higher by markets that have embraced its cost-cutting initiatives and hopes that rival TikTok could be banned in the US. JPMorgan raised its target price on Meta to $370 from $225 on the belief that CEO Mark Zuckerberg can deliver his promise that 2023 will be a ‘year of efficiency’ for the social media company, which has recently announced a fresh round of job cuts. ‘Meta is building the critical muscle for financial discipline over the long term,’ JPMorgan said. Meanwhile, the grilling of TikTok CEO CEO Shou Zi Chew by US lawmakers last week also pushed US social media stocks higher after politicians remained sceptical over the Chinese firm, leaving the door open to a potential US ban.

Alphabet (+5.3%) hit its highest level in over six weeks amid the broader rally in Big Tech stocks. The Times reported Irish workers that are being made redundant are being offered severance packages worth over EUR300,000. About 240 members of staff are being let go as part of Alphabet’s 12,000 job cuts announced earlier this year. The offers include six weeks of pay for each year that have worked at the company, leading to bumper payouts for some of the longest-serving staff.

Microsoft (+1.3%) ended at a seven month high on Friday. Citigroup said it believes there is now a 70% chance it will get the green light to complete its $69 billion takeover of video games maker Activision Blizzard (+6.6%) after UK regulators provisionally found the deal would not reduce competition. The Competition & Markets Authority had been regarded as one of the biggest barriers after threatening to block the deal. The CMA is still to decide on the impact of the deal on the cloud gaming market, where a decision will be made by April 26. European regulators will make their call on the combination sometime in May. There has also been some opposition in the US, where the Federal Trade Commission has filed legal papers to challenge the deal. Citi has a target price of $95 on Activision Blizzard based on the deal completing, adding it is worth $82 without a deal.

Netflix (+9.4%) popped last week after BofA Global Research said the streaming giant will add significantly more subscribers in North America than markets anticipate in the first quarter of 2023. The brokers said consensus numbers point toward a tepid 100,000 subscriber gain in the period but that it believes this could come in around 350,000 after seeing third-party data. It believes the crackdown on password sharing could be driving stronger additions. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported last week that Netflix’s new ad-supported tier has already attracted one million monthly users and met advertiser’s expectations in the first two months since being launched.

NVIDIA (+4.5%) shares hit a one-year high before losing some steam late in the week. The chipmaker has experienced its best winning streak in seven years after more than doubling in value over the past six months. The stock has significantly outperformed its rivals as analysts believe it has an unrivalled leadership in providing the hardware needed to power artificial intelligence. NVIDIA impressed during its developer’s conference last week, when CEO and founder Jensen Huang said revenue from generative AI will be ‘quite large’ in 12 months’ time.

Tesla (+6.9%) tweeted on Saturday that its Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, is now producing 5,000 cars each week. That suggests production has swiftly increased after hitting 4,000 cars per week around one month ago. That has also been achieved ahead of schedule considering it wanted to hit that 5,000 milestone by the end of June. There is still a long way to go considering the plant has the capacity to make around 500,000 cars each year, equal to almost 10,000 per week.

Block (-17.5%) was hit by a report released by Hindenburg Research, which has gone short and made a wave of allegations against the payments company. The accusations would be seismic if true. Hindenburg claims Block has ‘widely overstated its genuine user counts and has understated its customer acquisition costs’ and goes as far to say that it has embraced criminals and facilitated illegal payments. It also describes its acquisition of Buy Now, Pay Later firm Afterpay as ‘flopping’ and says Block’s valuation is far too high compared to its fintech rivals, especially as competition is becoming more fierce. Block released a response to the report and said it intends to work with the Securities & Exchange Commission and ‘explore legal action against Hindenburg Research for the factually inaccurate and misleading report they shared about our Cash App business’.

In China, Alibaba ADRs (+8.4%) are likely to follow their Hong Kong shares higher today after the South China Morning Post said co-founder Jack Ma returned to China and visited a school. The stock climbed amid a broader rally in Chinese shares last week, driven by hopes that the Federal Reserve could pause interest rate hikes.

Rolls Royce (+1.8%) shares continued to gain ground but still remain below the peak we saw earlier this month as the rally that sent the stock to a three-year high earlier this month, driven by its turnaround plan being spearheaded by its new CEO Tufan Erginbilgic, loses steam.

Kingfisher (-6.2%) sank to its lowest level since mid-January after the DIY retailer revealed profits sank 20% in the last financial year and warned they would fall further in the current one. The company, which owns brands like B&Q and Screwfix, said profit is being hurt by lower demand, higher costs and its expansion in France.

THG (+12.3%) was on the rise last week. The beauty and wellness retail platform was identified as a potential takeover target by Stifel earlier this month after losing a significant chunk of its value since listing and because the weak pound could attract more foreign takeovers. Still, there are some betting against the company after Qube Research & Technologies, one of at least five significant short sellers of THG, increased its short position last week.

Shell (-1.6%) failed to rebound in-line with oil prices last week. Brent has mildly recovered since hitting its lowest level in over a year earlier this month, although oil prices have fallen some 10% since the start of the 2023 while Shell is down 6.7%.

Next (+1.9%) is in play ahead of full year results out on Wednesday. The fashion and homeware retailer is forecast to report a 5% rise in annual sales to £5.1 billion in 2022 and a 4.6% increase in pretax profits to £861.3 million. Full price sales are expected to rise 29.8% in 2022, more than double the pace we saw in 2021 as demand remains healthy even after raising prices to offset higher costs, which is also helping protect profitability. Next said it was ‘cautious’ about the year ahead when it released its last trading statement back in January, when it issued preliminary guidance for full price sales to fall 1.5% and for profits to drop 7.6% to £795 million. That suggests both growth and profits have peaked. However, Next tends to low-ball its initial view and then upgrade it as it gains more clarity on what lies ahead. sales and profits are still considerably larger than before the pandemic and yet the share price is still almost 6% below where it sat before the Covid-19 crisis derailed markets back in early 2020

In the Netherlands, Ordina (+26%) exploded in value and hit new all-time highs, currently trading at EUR5.97, after receiving a conditional takeover bid from French firm Sopra Steria. The deal is worth EUR5.75 per share, excluding dividends, giving Ordina a valuation of around EUR518 million. The deal should close in the second half of 2023. The deal looks likely to go through after its two largest individual shareholders and management agreed to sell their stakes.

 

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Most traded stocks FAQs

What is the most traded stock in the US?

The most traded stock in the US in 2022 was Apple. Its shares fell in value by over 26% over the year, thanks to short-selling pressure, but Apple’s solid fundamentals meant buyers saw this as a buying opportunity. It was top of both the most bought, most held and most sold lists for 2022.

See Apple’s live share price

 

What are the most traded indices?

The most traded indices in the world are the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, FTSE 100, Nasdaq 100 and DAX 30. They represent leading global economies – the US, UK and Germany – making them popular barometers for the stock market and global financial health.

Learn more about indices trading

 

What does ‘underweight stock’ mean?

An ‘underweight stock’ is a recommendation from an analyst that a company’s shares aren’t worth buying because it’s underperforming compared to its industry, sector or market as a whole.

It’s important to note that analysts’ recommendations can measure different factors, so may differ from each other. It’s important to look at consensus estimates before making a decision.

See our recent stock analysis

 

What does ‘overweight stock’ mean?

An ‘overweight stock’ is a recommendation from an analyst that a company’s shares could be worth buying because it’s expected to outperform compared to its industry, sector or market.

It’s important to note that analysts’ recommendations can measure different factors, so may differ from each other. It’s important to look at consensus estimates before making a decision.

See our recent stock analysis

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