Why And How ITC Became India's Favourite Meme Stock Online
Despite ITC being a massive conglomerate with over 100 years of presence, ever wondered how and why its stocks have been on the receiving end of a flurry of memes all over the social media? Read on to know the story and reason behind it.
From overtaking RIL (Reliance Industries) as the most influential stock on both Sensex and Nifty about nine years ago, to becoming a ¡®meme stock¡¯ in recent times, ITC has come a long way. Despite being a massive conglomerate with over 100 years of presence, ever wondered how and why its stocks have been on the receiving end of a flurry of memes online? Read on to know the story and reasons behind it.
The primary purpose of everyone who invests their hard-earned money into stocks, is to see it grow and fetch good returns, right? Especially when you bet big on a company as massive as ITC Ltd. And when its stocks fail to live up to the investors¡¯ expectations, it¡¯s surely going to be on the receiving end of some criticism. But in today¡¯s digital first world being dominated by social media, ¡®memes¡¯ have become the new way of both banter and criticism, haven't they? That's what's been happening with ITC stocks too, but not without a reason of course. And to add fuel to the fire, there's this newly developed eagerness amongst people towards the stock market, especially share prices of companies, thanks to the strong pipeline of IPOs that have happened and are expected to happen in our country this year and next year.
shutterstock
Why ITC stocks became a meme stick in recent times?
The performance of ITC stock price is what has triggered funny memes on social media. The patience of ITC stock holders has been tested, with the stock prices not showing much movement, especially as per the expectations one is bound to have from such a massive company. Hence, whoever has invested in its stocks in the past few years, is stuck in the dilemma of whether to stay put and wait for the stock prices to rise to their true potential, or just exit with whatever they have in hand right now.
Also read: Does It Make Sense To Cash Your Investments When The Market Crashes?
shutterstock
How have ITC stocks performed in recent times?
Here are some examples to show the near-constant levels at which ITC stock price has remained over the past couple of years or so, and hovered around the Rs 200 mark.
Stock prices on different dates over the past couple of years::
Rs 246.4 on 29 Nov 2019, Rs 238 on 10 Jan 2020, Rs 182.05 on 30 April 2020, Rs 200 on 5 June 2020, Rs 195.55 on 28 Aug 2020, Rs 208.60 on 24 Dec 2020, Rs 208.75 on 4 June 2021,Rs 210.6 on 3 Sept 2021, Rs 232.9 on 12 Nov 2021 and Rs 227.20 on 24 November 2021.
Let's also have a closer look at how the changes in the stock prices have been minimal in the past few months of 2021.
Rs 215.95 on 1 Feb 2021, 206.90 on 1 March 2021, Rs 220.05 on 1 April 2021, Rs 202.60 on 30 April 2021, 204.45 on 21 June 2021. Rs 201.35 on 9 July 2021, Rs 207.30 on 2 August 2021, 209.75 on 2 Sept 2021, Rs 231.70 on 8 Oct 2021 and Rs 222.45 on 3 Nov 2021.
If we take another example by going back 5 years, ITC¡¯s stock price traded at Rs 211.80 on May 6 2016, and five years later, the stock price was still almost the same price!, as it closed at Rs 212.60 on May 17 2021.
Witnessing all this, its certainly no less than frustrating for an investor to see the share prices of a stock as big as ITC not show the potential growth that is expected from it. Especially for those investors who took the direct route of investing in equities through stocks rather than through equity mutual funds. And that's been the key reason why ITC stocks have become the ¡®meme¡¯ stock in recent times. While there¡¯s no doubt this conglomerate company has been a leader and is believed to have great potential over the long term, the recent lack of growth in its stock price is what has made people indulge into making memes on it. Lets look at some of the popular memes shared on social media.
"ITC STOCK" #Nifty pic.twitter.com/9Of5mfHmBZ
¡ª Naman Sachdev (@nnamansachdev) May 12, 2021
¡ª Finance Memes (@Qid_Memez) May 4, 2021
ITC meme after long time ? pic.twitter.com/4tCBHIr6LZ
¡ª Charlie Mungerilal (@CMungerilal) November 17, 2021
This is best meme on itc, courtesy wapp ?? pic.twitter.com/PYABpQH3E7
¡ª Somesh Maliq (@Somesh83maliq) July 5, 2021
For more of such interesting financial content, click here.
Click here to download CRED
