Markets
Retail Investors’ Most Popular Stocks of 2023 So Far
Retail Investors’ Most Popular Stocks of 2023 (YTD)
According to VandaTrack, retail investors are still a force to be reckoned with, adding an average of $1.5 billion each day into U.S. markets.
This is a record-breaking level of inflows, which raises the question: what are investors buying? To find out, we’ve visualized the 10 most popular picks of 2023, as of February 15.
The Top 10 List
Most of the names in this list won’t come as a surprise. They represent eight of the world’s largest and most well-known tech companies, as well as two highly popular U.S. equity ETFs.
| Rank | Name | Ticker | Retail net flows (USD millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla | TSLA | $9,751 |
| 2 | SPDR S&P 500 ETF | SPY | $3,572 |
| 3 | Amazon | AMZN | $1,786 |
| 4 | Apple | AAPL | $1,674 |
| 5 | NVIDIA | NVDA | $1,367 |
| 6 | Invesco QQQ ETF | QQQ | $1,353 |
| 7 | Alphabet | GOOG/L | $1,218 |
| 8 | AMD | AMD | $941 |
| 9 | Meta | META | $780 |
| 10 | Microsoft | MSFT | $768 |
Looking closer at the numbers, we can see that Tesla’s net retail flows of $9.75 billion are greater than all of the other individual stocks combined ($8.5 billion). This is a sign that investors still have plenty of faith in Tesla, even as its market share is beginning to shrink.
We recently covered Tesla’s profit margins (net profits per vehicle) in a separate infographic.
Perhaps the least common name on a top 10 ranking such as this is AMD. The chipmaker has made for a compelling underdog story in recent years, gaining significant market share from its long time rival, Intel.
What About the Meme Stocks?
Several meme stocks made it into the broader top 100 list. This includes Bed Bath & Beyond, which ranked 47th with $114 million in net retail flows.
The retailer has been struggling to avoid bankruptcy, recently raising $225 million through an underwritten public offering of preferred shares. A further $800 million could be coming, if certain conditions are met.
The company says it’s committed to paying down its overdue debts, and will be closing stores to reduce costs.
AMC Entertainment, which saw extreme volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic, ranked 52nd on the list for retail investors with $90 million in net flows. The stock has generated a 27% return YTD (as of Feb. 15). The cinema operator’s revenues have been recovering since the pandemic, but they’ve yet to reach pre-2020 levels.
Markets
Ranked: The Largest U.S. Corporations by Number of Employees
We visualized the top U.S. companies by employees, revealing the massive scale of retailers like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot.
The Largest U.S. Corporations by Number of Employees
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Revenue and profit are common measures for measuring the size of a business, but what about employee headcount?
To see how big companies have become from a human perspective, we’ve visualized the top U.S. companies by employees. These figures come from companiesmarketcap.com, and were accessed in March 2024. Note that this ranking includes publicly-traded companies only.
Data and Highlights
The data we used to create this list of largest U.S. corporations by number of employees can be found in the table below.
| Company | Sector | Number of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart | Consumer Staples | 2,100,000 |
| Amazon | Consumer Discretionary | 1,500,000 |
| UPS | Industrials | 500,000 |
| Home Depot | Consumer Discretionary | 470,000 |
| Concentrix | Information Technology | 440,000 |
| Target | Consumer Staples | 440,000 |
| Kroger | Consumer Staples | 430,000 |
| UnitedHealth | Health Care | 400,000 |
| Berkshire Hathaway | Financials | 383,000 |
| Starbucks | Consumer Discretionary | 381,000 |
| Marriott International | Consumer Discretionary | 377,000 |
| Cognizant | Information Technology | 346,600 |
Retail and Logistics Top the List
Companies like Walmart, Target, and Kroger have a massive headcount due to having many locations spread across the country, which require everything from cashiers to IT professionals.
Moving goods around the world is also highly labor intensive, explaining why UPS has half a million employees globally.
Below the Radar?
Two companies that rank among the largest U.S. corporations by employees which may be less familiar to the public include Concentrix and Cognizant. Both of these companies are B2B brands, meaning they primarily work with other companies rather than consumers. This contrasts with brands like Amazon or Home Depot, which are much more visible among average consumers.
A Note on Berkshire Hathaway
Warren Buffett’s company doesn’t directly employ 383,000 people. This headcount actually includes the employees of the firm’s many subsidiaries, such as GEICO (insurance), Dairy Queen (retail), and Duracell (batteries).
If you’re curious to see how Buffett’s empire has grown over the years, check out this animated graphic that visualizes the growth of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio from 1994 to 2022.
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