In the investing world, large investors such as hedge funds and private equity firms carry tremendous power to make or break a company. When a small or micro-cap stock gets backing from some large investment entity, it typically causes a massive shift in the company outlook. It gets eyes on it from prominent retail investors looking for the next big thing. But, this ability may also swing in the other direction when large investors announce decreasing their exposure or completely liquidating their position. It can cause another investor to rethink what stocks to sell.
Tracking what big investors and company insiders are up to when investing is essential. This can be a powerful tool for better understanding the trend of a particular company, whether it seems to be climbing higher or beginning to fall. Let’s look at three stocks to sell that have lost a large amount of support and interest from investors.
U.S. Bancorp (USB)
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) is a regional bank in Minnesota that provides financial services for businesses, individuals and other entities. This company and many others were hit hard earlier this year by the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and subsequent unrest in the banking sector. Many investors now see regional banks as stocks to sell.
Year-to-date USB stock has fallen 27% and is now hovering around $32 per share. This is primarily due to the collapse of SVB and other banking failures which have left all types of investors very hesitant about adding regional banks back to their portfolios due to their fragility in these types of environments. On U.S. Bank’s most recent earnings release their net income grew by 46% compared to the previous year. However, those earning have not been enough to rescue this troubled stock. This is a stock to avoid until market conditions improve.
Intel (INTC)
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) a company that develops, manufactures and sells computer hardware. Some of their products include processors, chips and graphic cards for application in many markets. While many other computer chip makers are seeing valuations grow with the artificial intelligence (AI) rally taking the sector by storm, it seems Intel missed the boat. Over the past year INTC has fallen by 13% while another chip company of similar size Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is up 25%.
Intel had disappointing first-quarter earnings, with revenue falling by 36% and earnings per share going from $2.98 in Q1 2022 to a loss of 66 cents in Q1 2023. With many other better options for tech stocks for both large and retail investors to put their money into, and with Intel’s lagging revenue and small capture on the rapidly expanding AI field, investors are looking the other way.
NIO (NIO)
NIO (NYSE:NIO) produces small electric vehicles (EVs) for the Chinese market. Over the past year, the company has seen a 63% drop in its underlying stock price. And over an 86% drop in price from its all-time high back in January of 2021.
The EV market is very crowded in China with NIO seeing competition from companies like BYD Co. (OTC:BYDDY) and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI). Both companies have been doing much better than NIO over the past year. Within NIO’s last earnings report, the company stated it had a net loss that expanded by more than 150% compared to Q1 2022. And their vehicles sales from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023 remained stagnant, same with their total revenue. All of this is causing all types of investors to reconsider if this very popular stock is a smart addition to their portfolio.
On the date of publication, Noah Bolton did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.