Donald Trump’s media company – which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, the same as the former president’s initials – is often in the spotlight, at least when it comes to the stock market.
Trump Media & Technology Group jumped 18% Monday, a rise that ended three weeks of gains and reversed a decline that had taken the stock to a record high. low post-listing end of September.
Shares of Trump Media rose $4.67, or 18.5%, on Monday, to close at $29.95. The stock has more than doubled since hitting a low of $11.75 on Sept. 24, according to data from financial services firm FactSet. However, even with the recent gains, DJT is still trading at less than half the price of its March peak.
The volatility of Trump Media’s shares has prompted some analysts to call them meme stockor companies that trade on social media buzz instead of traditional analytical metrics like revenue growth and profitability. DJT losing money, including revenue plunged 30% in the last quarterhas attracted a loyal base of Trump voters who are typically small investors eager to put their money behind the former president.
Trump Media, whose main asset is the social network Truth Social, announced Monday that its streaming service, Truth+ TV, is now available online.
DJT has also been seen as an indicator of Trump’s potential electoral success in the November 5 election, with polls showing a close race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In recent days, prediction market PredictIt.org has shifted from bettors giving Harris a better chance of winning to favoring Trump, who now enjoys higher odds. The Polymarket prediction market also gives better odds to Trump.
Why is DJT stock rising?
The $DJT group on Truth Social, which has more than 20,000 members, frequently includes posts from Trump supporters about their DJT purchases, often encouraging others to buy more.
“I just checked my brokerage account,” one $DJT member wrote Monday. “Thanks Uncle Donnie!”
Although DJT stock has more than doubled since its September 24 low, it is still far from its high of $79.38 on March 26, the day of its IPO.
Trump Media collapsed near the end of September in part due to the expiration of a months-long lock-up period following the initial sale of DJT shares. Such deals are common in IPOs because they prevent executives from selling their shares quickly, which could hurt the stock price.
With the lockup period having expired, insiders, including top Trump Media executives, can now sell their DJT shares.
While Trump has I swore not to sell its shares, another insider sold a significant stake, which could have contributed to the stock’s decline in September. The investor, United Atlantic Ventures, owned 7.5 million shares of Trump Media as of March, about 4% of the company’s outstanding shares, but sold them at an unspecified dateaccording to a regulatory filing last month.
United Atlantic Ventures is the creation of Andrew Litinsky and Wes Moss, two former contestants on “The Apprentice,” the reality TV show starring Trump. Litinsky and Moss had worked on the early days of the Truth Social network, but the relationship between them and the company deteriorated, lead to several lawsuits.
Meanwhile, Trump remains the company’s largest shareholder, with a nearly 60% stake, according to FactSet. At current prices, that values Trump’s stock at about $3.4 billion.
