Our Stock Journey – Update

Last week, the four of us at Freedom Finances each picked a stock (or ETF) as an investment to follow its journey for the foreseeable future. Our goal is to understand the process of different investment options and see how these will fair while answering some important questions: Can meme stocks work? Can evolving technology impact a stock? Are ETFs the best options?

First our first update, just about 10 days after our investment, we have progress.

The good news is that our combined investments grew by .46%, for a total of $18.30. This change is not too significant but is tampered with the loss to Tesla’s stock. Let’s break each one done.

Bradley – Tesla loss of $88.17 (-8.82%)

This was the only loss of the four stocks. The purchase price of Tesla at $262.33 was at its highest price since July of 2023. However, after being riddled with bad news, including poor sales performance, Tesla’s stock dropped quickly within 24 hours, closing at $241.03 on July 11th. The damage had been already done, and it will take a few weeks, or even months, for the stock to regroup.

Dylan – GameStop gain of $25.77 (+2.58%)

Gamestop had a rather uneventful several days. Purchased at $24.37, while closing at $24.97, the stock had major ups and downs throughout the day but ultimately settled nicely with an increase of 2.58%. We will see if the erratic stock continues its tame nature.

Karrie – CPI Card Group Inc. gain of $46.26 (+4.63%)

This was the biggest winner over the last week. CPI Card Group gained major ground, as its market cap reached $330 million, which could explain the solid gain for the week. If CPI Card Group continues to grow, and adapt its market strategy in the world of digital payments, it might not be long before it hits $1 billion in its market cap.

Nick – ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) gain of $34.45 (+3.44%)

The only ETF of the group, NOBL had solid, if uneventful movement upwards. What is interesting about the investment is that it is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500, yet it beat the S&P quite mightily. While the S&P dropped 1.54% over the same timeframe, NOBL increased around 3.44%. This ETF is not a mirror of the S&P, but instead is handpicked to get strong performance, which we can easily say did its job.

We will check back next Friday, July 26th, to see more changes. In the meantime, we will be glad that there was a $18.36 increase, even with the biggest change in the four stocks being a loss of nearly 10%. To see the start of our journey, click here.