Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)—the two Elon Musk related stocks—both landed in the list of the top most trending stocks for 2013 on Google Trends. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise which companies are also in the top ten, although there is one name that is noticeably missing from the list.
Tesla ranks second, SolarCity ranks eighth
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which went on a tear last year as the company beat milestone after milestone, was in second place on the list. It was beaten only by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), another company which rallied in 2013, finally bringing its share price back up to where it was when it opened on the NASDAQ in 2012.
SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) landed further down on the list at the eighth spot. It seems likely that Elon Musk’s connection with SolarCity has helped bring the company more attention that it would have gotten otherwise. Musk has been extremely outspoken in his work as CEO with Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), and he also happens to be SolarCity’s chairman. He’s got quite a bit of his own wealth locked up in the two companies.
Twitter, Google, BlackBerry also place
Perhaps unsurprisingly, three of the remaining most-trending stocks on the top ten list are all tech stocks: Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). They are in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Of course Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) had its initial public offering in November, and shares took off like a shot even before the company officially debuted. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has also been doing well and has been popular with investors for a long time. And then there’s BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), which is precisely the opposite. However, investors’ interest has probably been piqued by new CEO John Chen’s efforts to turn the struggling Canadian company around. He certainly has his work cut out for him, and investors have been keeping a close eye on his progress.
Controversy breeds interest
The remaining four companies on the top ten all have something in common. They were at the center of some sort of controversy throughout most, if not all of 2013. Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Assctn Fnni Me (OTCBB:FNMA) ranked sixth on the list, while J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) came in seventh. Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) was in ninth place, while Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) came in tenth on the list.
Of course lawmakers and investors have been battling over what to do with Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Assctn Fnni Me (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC). Some lawmakers think the two government-sponsored entities should be wound down. Investors are concerned about protecting their investments as some of the proposed solutions would leave them with essentially nothing.
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) has been embroiled in pyramid scheme allegations brought by Bill Ackman in late 2012, so it’s no surprise people have been watching this stock. The Federal Trade Commission finally bowed to numerous requests for an investigation just recently. J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) was also dealing with Ackman for most of last year until he finally gave up toward the end of the year.
Where’s Apple?
Right now you might be going back and counting to make sure we’ve already mentioned ten stocks because there’s one that you would think might be missing. That’s right. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) did not make the list of the top ten most-trending stocks on Google. The company spent years as the poster child for Silicon Valley success, but suddenly, investors’ interest seems to have gone elsewhere. It may be because there haven’t really been any surprises with Apple lately. Big moves in the share price appear to be a thing of the past, at least for now.
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