Top 20 most-bought US stocks so far this year
6th July 2021 15:27
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
With the US stock market making record highs for fun, we reveal the stocks you’ve been buying in recent months.
Investors building exposure to the electric vehicle boom continue to look no further than Elon Musk's Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) after it ranked as top US stock pick on the interactive investor platform so far in 2021.
Having surged 750% during 2020 to become the world's most valuable car maker, a choppier share price performance this year has opened the door for more buying by ii clients.
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Tesla was the most-bought US stock across the last quarter and first half of 2021, despite a year in which competition for top spot came from an unlikely source amid a wave of anti-establishment trades behind so-called meme stocks such as GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC).
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Inflation fears also disrupted momentum as the lofty valuations of tech stocks such as Tesla are built on future strong cash flows, which look less appealing when borrowing costs rise.
Tesla shares have been priced for perfection, but so far its operations are doing their best to keep pace. Last week, the Californian company revealed it produced and delivered just over 200,000 vehicles in the second quarter, a rise of 7% despite supply chain challenges.
The shares are currently trading at about $680, having been $900 in late January. Earlier this year, Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley backed the share price to return to this level and said not owning the shares exposed investors to greater risk of underperformance.
The Chinese Tesla
Companies involved in electric vehicles or provision of charging infrastructure represented last year's hottest sector, but Tesla aside, there's been a cooling in interest this year.
Shanghai-based Nio (NYSE:NIO), which has been dubbed the Chinese Tesla, and the hydrogen and fuel cell technology specialist Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG), were the other names from the sector in our top 20 list of most-bought US-listed stocks.
None appear among the top-performing stocks on Nasdaq in the second quarter and first half of the year, with semiconductor firms being far more successful amid a global computer chip shortage.
Exposure to the sector for interactive investor clients focused on US-listed graphics specialist Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), which recently struck a deal to buy former London stock market darling Arm Holdings.
The shares have proved to be a good investment, with Nvidia trading 50% higher to make it the best performing stock on Nasdaq during the second quarter of 2021.
Investor appetite reflects figures showing that sales of its gaming chips doubled in the most recent quarter, with data centre specific chips up nearly 80%. Sales of chips designed specifically for cryptocurrency miners are also surging.
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Other semiconductor firms on the front foot on Nasdaq in the last quarter were Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL), although neither were on ii's most bought list.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) continue to be popular picks, but the FAANG stocks that investors really needed to buy were Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) after both made the list of top 20 performing Nasdaq stocks during the first half of the year.
Other popular Wall Street picks were the debutants Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) and digital currency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). Both have disappointed investors so far, with the latter impacted since its direct listing in April by the volatility in cryptocurrency prices.
Most-bought US shares on the interactive investor platform
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Source: interactive investor. Past performance is not a guide to future performance
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.