Tesla, Palantir JPMorgan And More — Here's Why Investors Couldn't Stop Talking About These Stocks This Week

Retail investors buzzed about five stocks this week, from Oct. 13 to Oct. 17, on platforms like X and Reddit's r/WallStreetBets, amid government shutdown, banking earnings and AI enthusiasm.

The stocks, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR), Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), spanning automotive, quantum computing, AI, nuclear energy, and banking sectors, reflected diverse retail interests.

Tesla

• Tesla launched the affordable Model Y Standard in Europe and reported strong China sales earlier this week. Meanwhile, later in the week, the NHTSA began probing FSD after incidents, but Tesla's Model S earned a spot in TIME's Invention Hall of Fame, and energy deployments set third-quarter records.

• Skeptical retail investors questioned TSLA’s current trading price range.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $212.11 to $488.54, trading around $419 to $425 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 13.04% year-to-date and 94.10% over the year.

• Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings showed that the stock had a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value ranking. Additional performance details are available here.

Rigetti Computing

• RGTI surged at the beginning of the week, fueled by JPMorgan's $10 billion quantum investment news. It also received $5.7 million in Novera QPU orders for 9-qubit systems, signaling enterprise traction, building on a $5.8 million Air Force contract. However, valuation concerns over and $201 million 2024 losses triggered a dip in the price later in the week.

• Retail investors were comparing RGTI gains with returns from holding the yellow metal, gold.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $0.91 to $58.15, trading around $45 to $47 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 139.85% year-to-date and 4,949.47% over the year.

• The stock had a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings. Other performance details are available here.

Palantir Technologies

• PLTR faced volatility from a resurfaced Army security memo, causing a prior dip this week. It also saw Global X Japan trim its stake by $2.55 million, and CEO Alex Karp held strategic AI talks with South Korean firms, boosting global expansion buzz.

• Meanwhile, some retail investors were seen regretting not having a position in PLTR.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $40.90 to $189.46, trading around $173 to $178 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 136.89% YTD and 324.10% over the year.

• According to Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, it had a strong growth ranking, and it was maintaining a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms. Additional performance details are available here.

Oklo

• OKLO surged at the beginning of the week after breaking ground on its Aurora micro-reactor at Idaho National Lab and securing DOE selection for an advanced nuclear fuel pilot, boosting its AI data center energy narrative. However, valuation debates intensified on X later in the week, and the stock plunged.

• Investors were furious with the decline in the stock by the end of the week.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $14.11 to $193.84, trading around $155 to $160 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 642.06% year-to-date but 930.77% higher over the year.

• It maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings. Additional performance details are available here.

JPMorgan Chase

• JPMorgan Chase kicked off banking earnings this week with better-than-expected third-quarter results. But the bank set aside $3.4 billion for credit loss provision, and CEO Jamie Dimon warned of credit "cockroaches" after Tricolor Holdings’ bankruptcy.

• Even as JPM focused on bad loan prevention, retail investors said that the bank could likely continue investing in other smaller banks.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $202.16 to $318.01, trading around $295 to $299 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 24.39% year-to-date and 33.03% over the year.

• While this stock had a strong growth ranking, Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings showed that it had a weaker price trend in the short term but a strong trend in the medium and long terms. Additional performance details are available here.

Retail focus blended meme-driven narrative with future outlook and corporate news flow, as the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq witnessed choppy market action during the week.

• 5 Stocks That Dominated Investor Buzz This Week — How TSLA, OPEN, GME And Others Performed

Photo: Shutterstock