There have been lawsuits, short-selling and rampant speculation. Now, as Trump Media & Technology Group approaches its first month as a publicly traded company, it’s clear that — like the man it’s named after — there’s nothing typical about the stock.
“If I woke up tomorrow and shares were zero dollars, or $100, I would not be surprised,” said Matthew Tuttle, a professional investor who bought $800 in Trump Media stock last week when it was at an all-time low. A day later, it had spiked in value.
Trump stock’s wild ride
Shares of Donald Trump’s social media company have slumped since the stock’s March debut on the Nasdaq exchange.
“This is not going to move on fundamentals, earnings, or anything I was taught in business school about how a stock is supposed to move,” he said.
With Trump facing dozens of federal felony charges and hundreds of millions in legal expenses, Trump Media went public on March 26 on the Nasdaq exchange. Unlike many other stocks, it has been hard for traditional analysts and investors to figure out where it’s heading.
Here are some key takeaways from experts and regulator filings that help explain why Trump Media’s stock — ticker symbol DJT — has gone up and down, and why its performance continues to confound Wall Street expectations:
TRUMP MEDIA IS TRUMP
The stock’s volatility, experts say, is tied to Trump Media’s prime asset: Trump himself. Trump Media runs the social media platform Truth Social, which Trump created after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The former Republican president, who is his party’s presumptive nominee for the White House this year, is a prolific poster to Truth Social and has a legion of diehard supporters.
“I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL, I LOVE THE TRUTH!” Trump posted the day his company went public.
Most large investors have balked at buying the company’s stock. Based in Sarasota, Florida, Trump Media has been losing loads of money and struggling to raise revenue, according to regulatory filings. That doesn’t appear to have dissuaded Trump’s supporters from embracing a chance to invest in a piece of him.