2022 top stocks in Romania: Retail investors keep faith in big tech despite sell off, while Netflix enters top 20 list

• Tesla, Nio & UiPath are the three most popular stocks held by Romanian investors on the eToro platform
• Netflix entered in top 20 list following recent share price gains
• Meme stock Gamestop falls seven places on the list as more retail investors sell

Thursday 5th January – Retail investors appear to be keeping faith in big tech stocks despite the 2022 sell-off wiping hundreds of billions of dollars from their market value, according to the latest quarterly stocks data from social investing network eToro.

Tesla was top of the 20 most popular stocks in Romania on the eToro platform at the end of 2022 followed by EV Chinese competitor Nio and Romanian-born tech unicorn UiPath, with little change across the board compared to 2021. 

Over the last 12 months, there was one new company making the top 20 list – Netflix, which even surpassed its entertainment rival Disney in the preferences of Romanian investors.  Meanwhile, Richard Branson’s aerospace company Virgin Galactic, and healthtech stock Asenus, fell three places during the last year, now closing the list. 

Globally, there were two new entrants on the list – Coca-Cola, a popular defensive stock which has seen a World Cup sponsorship bounce and US firm Intel, one of the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturers.

Commenting on the data, eToro’s Global Market Strategist Ben Laidler, said: “2022 was an exceptionally poor year for investments, and for some of our users, it would be the biggest bear market that they have experienced. However, we know from our latest Retail Investor Beat* that the vast majority of retail investors have long term time horizons, making them resilient to market cycles.

“From what we can see, a lot of retail investors took a ‘wait and see’ position in 2022 rather than change their investment approach. The most popular stocks are still dominated by big tech despite this year’s sell off, but when we look at these names – Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet – we are talking about giants with fortress balance sheets, structural growth outlooks and now cheaper valuations, which could have encouraged more to buy in. Certainly companies which still deserve a place within a diversified portfolio. ” 

There was also some movement amongst those on the list, with meme stock Gamestop falling down to 12th place (14th globally) having seen a 14% drop (17% globally) in eToro users holding the stock. 

Laidler adds: “The two additions to the top 20 list globally make sense. Intel is well placed to benefit from any easing of the semiconductor downturn, with its industry leadership and now much cheaper valuation, while Coca-Cola’s dominance of the global soft drinks industry has seen it successfully navigate previous recessions.

“It might surprise some that Netflix has moved up. We are likely seeing the result of bottom fishing, with retail investors who bought in during the summer months enjoying fairly significant gains since then, with the firm’s management navigating the cost of living crisis with new programming, ad-supported subscriptions and a password-sharing crackdown.” 

All data accurate as of after market close on Friday 30th December 2022.

All data accurate as of after market close on Friday 30th December 2022.

ENDS

*eToro’s Retail Investor Beat is published each quarter and looks at the sentiment of 10,000 retail investors globally.

Notes to editors

The data in the table shows the top 20 most held stocks positions (open positions) by investors on the eToro platform in Romania and globally  at the end of the Q4 2022 and the end of Q4 2021. As the vast majority of stocks traded on eToro are the real asset, this data does not include positions held as CFDs.

All data accurate as of after market close on Friday 30th December 2022

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