Trump’s Truth Social stock takes turbulent swings after verdict
Written by ABC AUDIO on June 1, 2024
(NEW YORK) — The stock price of former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social made turbulent swings in the aftermath of his conviction in a New York court on Thursday.
A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an effort to conceal hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. The verdict made Trump the first president to be convicted in a criminal trial.
In the immediate aftermath of the verdict, the stock price of Truth Social plummeted roughly 15% to a price of about $47. The stock recovered in after-hours trading, however, rallying above its pre-verdict level to about $52.
In early trading on Friday, the price was down about 5%.
While acknowledging an overall decline since the verdict, analysts offered an optimistic view of the stock performance because in their view the stock showed resilience after the initial drop.
“The fact that it reversed right back off of that and almost immediately made new highs above where it was the day before — that’s textbook bullish,” Tyler Richey, an analyst at Sevens Report Research, told ABC News.
The price movement since the verdict reflects a dynamic that bodes well for the stock going forward, Richey added.
“Die-hard Trump supporters may not care what the stock does — they just want to support Trump,” Richey said.
By contrast, opponents of Trump face the logistical barriers and financial risks involved with shorting the stock — an investing strategy that delivers returns when a stock drops and, in turn, places downward pressure on the price.
“You have an imbalance between supporters and opponents of Trump in what they can do in the markets,” Richey added.
The volatile performance since Thursday afternoon marks the latest in a series of dramatic price swings for the stock.
Shares vaulted from an initial offering price of about $50 to a peak of nearly $80 in late March. Over the ensuing two weeks, the price fell nearly 70%, reaching a low of about $23.
As of Thursday morning, the stock had rebounded to a price of about $51 before plummeting in the aftermath of the verdict.
The stock performance holds significant financial implications for the former president, whose 60% stake in the company could ultimately deliver a multibillion dollar windfall. Truth Social shares make up a large portion of Trump’s overall net worth, according to Fortune.
Experts who previously spoke to ABC News described Truth Social as a so-called meme stock since it largely appeals to investors on the basis of ideology rather than financial outlook.
Truth Social generated roughly $3 million over the first nine months of 2023, government filings show. Meanwhile, the company reported $49 million in net losses over that period. By comparison, Instagram-parent Meta delivered nearly $135 billion in revenue last year, company earnings revealed.
The absence of financial underpinning leaves the stock vulnerable to major declines even in response to mildly negative or routine news, experts previously told ABC News.
A selloff in April coincided with financial challenges for Trump. Early that month, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee posted a $175 million bond in a New York civil fraud case.
“The only thing that you can predict is that there will continue to be volatility,” Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida, told ABC News.
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