These are the most popular stocks for day trading

Goldman Sachs recently reported that a basket of stocks favoured by retail day traders had outperformed their hedge fund basket by nearly 20% when the coronavirus sell-off was at its worst.

Retail day traders have helped fuel the market recovery from the March 23^rd low, struck as fears over the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic reached their zenith.

Here’s what our signals tools have to say about some of the most popular stocks amongst day traders.

Moderna

Moderna is a hotly watched biotech company whose stock has seen a surge in popularity as markets try to bet on the winner in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine.

The stock is up 144% since March 23^rd and over 230% year-to-date. Our Analyst Recommendations tool shows a consensus “Strong Buy” rating amongst Wall Street analysts, with the average price target of $87.64 representing a 35% upside even after months of incredible growth.

Tesla

Even CEO Elon Musk tweeting that the stock in his own company was overvalued couldn’t put the brakes on the Telsa stock rally this year. Day traders have helped drive this stock up 131% since March 23^rd. Since January 1^st the stock is up 140%.

The stock broke above $1,000 for the first time on June 10^th, although it has since struggled to hold this level. The rally has left Wall Street analysts struggling to catch up – the average price target of $678.82 represents a -32% downside. Hedge funds snapped up three million shares in the last quarter, and news sentiment around the stock has been almost evenly split between bullish and bearish.

Snap

Snap is up 106% since March 23^rd, although on a year-to-date basis the stock is up a more ‘modest’ 35%.

Our signals tools are sending bearish signals, however. Although the consensus rating amongst analysts is a “Buy”, at $19.91 the average price target represents a downside of -14%. Hedge funds dropped five million shares in the last quarter, and company insiders sold $206 million worth of shares.

MGM Resorts

MGM Resorts has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with its stock down 44% for the year. However, traders who bought it at the depths of the March sell-off would have netted a return of 103%.

The average price target amongst analysts of $17.92 represents an upside of just 1%, and the stock has a “Hold” rating. Hedge funds scooped up 48 million shares in the last quarter, while company insiders bought $24.5 million worth of the stock.

Spirit Airlines

SAVE is another stock that is down heavily on the year, but has surged from the March low. Since the market bottomed out, Spirit Airlines has recovered 102%, although it remains down -51% since January 1^st.

Analysts rate the stock a “Hold”, although it has an average price target 11% higher than the current price of $20.56. Hedge funds trimmed their holdings by one million shares in the last quarter.