UK retail investors continued to back weight loss drugmakers in Q4 while also buying the dip on big names down on their luck, according to the latest quarterly stocks data from trading and investing platform eToro.
eToro looked at which companies saw the biggest proportionate change in UK holders at the end of Q4 versus the end of Q3 (table 1 below), while also looking at the 10 most widely held stocks on the platform (table 2) amongst UK users.
The list of most widely held stocks was once again led by Tesla NASDAQ:TSLA and Amazon NASDAQ:AMZN, both of which saw massive share price gains in 2023. After a phenomenal 12 months in which its share price jumped 246%, Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA has now moved up to sixth place in the list of most held stocks on the eToro platform amongst UK users, ahead of tech stalwarts Meta NASDAQ:META and Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL.
The 10 ‘top risers’ list once again featured weight loss drugmakers. Danish firm Novo-Nordisk, manufacturer of the weight loss drug Wegovy, and Eli Lilly & Co NYSE:LLY, manufacturer of tirzepatide, saw the number of UK eToro users holding the stocks jump 13% and 24% respectively in Q4. Both firms enjoyed share price gains in Q4, albeit at more modest levels than earlier in 2023.
UK investors also appeared to buy the dip in several firms down on their luck in Q4. German pharmaceutical giant Bayer (28%) ranked highly on the ‘top risers’ list, after the firm’s share price hit a 12-year low. Other poor-performing stocks to feature in this list included Vodafone LON:VOD (19%), whose share price hit a record low in December, and US automotive firm Fisker (17%), with its share price down 75% in the last year.
Commenting on the data, eToro Market Analyst Sam North said: “UK investors clearly feel that the obesity drug train has a long way to go, with eToro users continuing to flock to the industry’s two biggest names in Q4. Whilst some of these investors might feel they were late to the party, share price returns of 16% and 8% in three months are certainly not to be sniffed at. We also saw bargain hunters on the eToro platform in the final quarter of the year, snapping up firms which have struggled in recent times – not a bad strategy when you consider the recovery that some of 2022’s laggards made last year.”
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At the other end of the spectrum, in Q4 eToro’s UK-based users appeared to lock in their profits on some of 2023’s best performers. Amongst the ‘Top Fallers’ list were Snapchat NYSE:SNAP, Salesforce NYSE:CRM and Liberty Media Corp NASDAQ:LMAC.A. All three firms saw healthy share price gains in 2023 and in Q4 saw the number of UK eToro users holding them fall 11%, 11% and 16% respectively.
North adds: “[At this time of year] retail investors will typically assess their portfolio and consider whether any repositioning is necessary for the following year. It’s clearly also a time when many decide to cash in on some of their strong performers, with several certain tech names with outstanding 2023 share price gains seeing a drop off in UK holders on the eToro platform. This may prove to be prudent if predictions around the market swing to cyclicals prove accurate.”
