MRNA, SPCX, MSTR Among Five Stocks Drawing Retail Investor Buzz This Week

Retail investors hotly debated five popular stocks on X and Reddit's r/WallStreetBets forum this week, driven by retail hype, earnings, AI infrastructure momentum, and company news.

Moderna Inc., Walmart Inc., MicroStrategy Inc., Broadcom Inc., and SpaceX, spanning biotech, pharmaceuticals, retail, Bitcoin assets, semiconductors, AI, and space, reflected strong retail attention.

Moderna

On August 19, MRNA and Merck announced positive results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine intismeran in patients with high-risk resected melanoma. The therapy met its primary endpoint—improving recurrence-free survival—and the key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival, marking the first successful late-stage trial result for an mRNA cancer vaccine. MRNA shares surged over 177% that day. However, a sharp profit-taking pullback followed on August 20, with analysts raising price targets and the company planning regulatory discussions.

A minority of retail investors are pondering whether MRNA's pullback after the 177% surge could rebound.

As of this writing, the stock traded in a range of $22.28 to $176.66, with prices around $132 to $139. It is up 395.80% over the past year and 167.34% over the past six months. Year-to-date, it is up 352.09%. According to Investor's Edge stock rankings, MRNA maintains strong price trends across short-, medium-, and long-term horizons.

Walmart

On August 20, Walmart reported fiscal Q2 2027 results that beat expectations, with revenue of $187.9 billion, up 5.9% quarter-over-quarter, and adjusted EPS of $0.81, driven by 23% global e-commerce growth and advertising business gains. The company also raised its full-year sales guidance to 4%-5% and adjusted EPS guidance to $2.80-$2.87. However, U.S. comparable sales grew only 2.6%, the lowest in about six years, missing expectations, weighed by weak pharmacy business and cautious consumer sentiment over high gas prices. Weak Q3 guidance and plans to use $2.9 billion in tariff refunds for price cuts drove the stock down about 9%.

Retail traders mocked WMT's decline as it dragged down all indices after its Q2 results.

As of this writing, the stock's 52-week range is $95.42 to $135.16, with prices around $102 to $105. It is up 1.24% over the past year but down 15.57% over the past six months. Year-to-date, it is down 6.79%. According to Investor's Edge stock rankings, WMT shows weak price trends across short-, long-, and medium-term horizons, though its quality score remains solid.

MicroStrategy

This week, MSTR disclosed in an 8-K filing that it sold approximately 3.46 million shares in the prior week, with net proceeds of about $334 million. No Bitcoin was bought or sold, with holdings maintained at 840,447 BTC. Proceeds were used for MSTR preferred stock dividends, buybacks, and increasing dollar reserves to $4.8 billion. Bitcoin surged sharply, breaking through $70,000-$77,000, pushing MSTR shares higher and flipping the company's BTC position from unrealized losses to roughly $1.4 billion in unrealized gains.

A minority of retail investors expressed regret over missing MSTR's rally following the BTC surge.

As of this writing, the stock's 52-week range is $81.81 to $365.21, with prices around $111 to $124. It is down 67.36% over the past year and 14.24% over the past six months. Year-to-date, it is down 26.03%.

According to Investor's Edge stock rankings, MSTR maintains weak price trends over the long and medium term but shows a strong trend in the short term.

Broadcom

This week, AVGO shares faced early pressure from ongoing concerns over a VMware vCenter security vulnerability being actively exploited and AI backlog financing. The stock then fell after competitor Micron Technology announced a major custom AI chip development deal with Alphabet Inc.'s Google, including warrants potentially tied to roughly $120 billion in purchases, raising concerns about erosion of Broadcom's exclusive position in Google's TPU ecosystem, despite Broadcom holding a long-term supply agreement valid through 2031. Shares later stabilized as analysts downplayed the competitive threat, emphasizing Broadcom's strong AI revenue momentum, while the company also promoted its VMware Explore 2026 event.

While most retail investors held a bearish view on AVGO, some expressed confidence in AVGO's trajectory.

As of this writing, the stock's 52-week range is $287.17 to $495.00, with prices around $363 to $370. It is up 25.02% over the past year, 9.43% over the past six months, and 5.18% year-to-date. According to Investor's Edge stock rankings, AVGO maintains a strong price trend over the long term but shows weakness in the short and medium term, with poor growth scores.

SpaceX

SPCX shares rose early this week on institutional holding disclosures, including heavy positions from Alphabet, Nvidia Corporation, and others. Recent Falcon 9 launches and momentum near IPO prices also provided support, but midweek pressure came from competitive news of China's LandSpace reusable rocket landing and dilution expectations. The key event was the unlock of approximately 319 million shares on August 20, increasing supply and driving the stock down.

Most retail investors held a highly bearish stance on SPCX stock this week.

The stock has traded in a range of $104.83 to $225.64 since listing, with prices around $133 to $136 as of this writing. It is down 10.67% since listing, up 11.81% over the past month, and down 5.16% over the past five trading days. According to Investor's Edge stock rankings, SPCX maintains weak price trends across short-, medium-, and long-term horizons.

Retail focus centered on narratives driven by AI infrastructure momentum, earnings, and company news, alongside broader market moves this week.