Global retail investors lose patience with airline stocks and ditch pharmaceutical companies in Q2

• Data from eToro shows which companies saw the biggest increase and decrease in holders on its platform in Q2
• United Airlines Holdings (-8 per cent), Delta Air Lines (-7 per cent) and American Airlines Group (-6 per cent) were all in the top 10 fallers, along with pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co (-19 per cent), and Pfizer (-6 per cent)
• Twitter saw the largest rise in holders, jumping 137 per cent, whilst users also flocked to Shell and BP amid global gas price surges, with the stocks rising 43 per cent and 39 per cent respectively

Global retail investors are ditching pharmaceutical companies while appearing to lose patience with airline stocks, according to the latest quarterly stocks data, collected as part of eToro’s Retail Investor Beat Survey.

We looked at which companies have seen the biggest proportional increase and decrease in holders at the end of Q2 versus the end of Q1. Three airlines feature in the top 10 fallers – United Airlines Holdings (-8 per cent), Delta Air Lines (-7 per cent) and American Airlines Group (-6 per cent). Several pharmaceutical companies also make up the top 10 fallers, with US firm Merck & Co first on the list (-19 per cent), and Pfizer (-6 per cent) and Bayer AG (-6 per cent) also featuring. Comparatively, the highest decrease in Australian holders affected Merck & Co (-10 per cent) and Moderna (-6 per cent), while AstraZeneca saw holders increase by 49 per cent.

At the other end of the spectrum, the biggest riser quarter-on-quarter was Twitter, which saw a 137 per cent increase in holders, with news of Elon Musk’s intention to purchase the social media giant breaking back in mid-April. Shell and BP have also seen significant increases in popularity amid a global surge in gas and oil prices, with the number of eToro investors holding these stocks jumping 43 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.

In terms of the companies that had the most significant increase in Australian holders, these ranged from Twitter (197 per cent), Ubisoft Entertainment (90 per cent), Unilever (81 per cent), BP (80 per cent), and Shell (73 per cent). 

On the Australian data, our Australian market analyst Josh Gilbert said: “It is no surprise that Twitter had the biggest increase amongst Australian investors amid its high profile take over from Elon Musk. This news has significantly captured investors’ attention, with many feeling the world’s richest man could be exactly what Twitter needs to take it to the next level.”  

“Australian investors are also increasingly adding defence assets to their portfolio, from consumer staples in Unilever, to healthcare in AstraZeneca. Investors down under are staying confident for the eventual upturn in markets as we can see from the consistency of the top 10 most held assets, but are adding defensive stocks to their portfolio to help to better manage risk.”

The list of most popular stocks among eToro investors (see Table 2 below) remains dominated by tech, despite the recent market sell-off, with Tesla, Amazon and Apple making up the top three, and Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet further down the list.

In Australia, the top 10 most held stocks among eToro investors encompassed Tesla, Apple, Nio, Amazon, Meta Platforms, GameStop, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Alphabet and Alibaba.

Gilbert adds: “Investors have also taken the long view and held onto their ‘big tech’ favourites even as many have been battered in the stock markets this year. This may ultimately be rewarded as they are still growing strongly, with high profit margins, and have fortress balance sheets.”

Table 1: This table shows which stocks have seen the biggest proportional increase and decrease in global holders on the eToro platform quarter on quarter

Table 2: This table shows which stocks are most widely held on eToro globally and their position last quarter

Table 3: This table shows which stocks have seen the biggest proportional increase and decrease in Australian holders on the eToro platform quarter on quarter

Table 4: This table shows which stocks are most widely held on eToro by Australian investors and their position last quarter