FX.co ★ 6 cases of mistaken identity in investing

Meta and Meta Materials

On October 28, Meta Materials’ stocks closed with a 5% rise. During the trading day, the equities had spiked over 25%. Amid buoyant demand, the market capitalization of the nanocomposites manufacturer expanded to $1.5 billion. Analysts reckon that the Canadian company owes such a burning interest among investors to Facebook rebranding. Indeed, Meta Materials’ stocks rose in value shortly after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement. Some analysts recall the case when the Canadian company’s stocks surged more than 260% after its meme had spread rapidly on the Internet.

Signal and Signal Advance

Signal is the encrypted messaging service that was highly praised by Elon Musk in early 2021. Tesla CEO recommended replacing WhatsApp with this messenger because Signal announced that personal data of its users would not be shared with Facebook. A lot of traders quickly followed the recommendation of the famous influencer and rushed to buy shares of Signal Advance, a low-profile company with a similar name. As a result of the enormous demand, investors sent its stock soaring by 6,000% in three days. Besides, the market capitalization swelled by 1,100%.

Twitter и Tweeter

This story took place in the autumn 2013 when the short messaging service Twitter announced its first listing on the stock exchange. The social network developers reckoned to raise $1 billion as 100% of Twitter stocks were estimated at almost $13 billion. The news made a big splash among investors, though not everyone realized that the IPO had not happened yet. Some traders were so eager to invest in the would-be successful publicly traded company that by mistake they set about buying shares of consumer electronics retailer Tweeter that went bankrupt 5 years ago.

Nest Labs и Nestor

In early 2014, IT giant Google unveiled its plans to buy Nest Labs, the company designing and manufacturing smart home devices. The firm was unfamiliar to many speculators but they decided to invest in it in the hope that stocks of the company owned by Google would steadily grow. Traders omitted the fact that Nest Labs was not listed on the stock exchange but the shares under the NEST ticker belonged to the bankrupt company that sold automated traffic enforcement equipment to local governments. As a result of this mistaken identity, the worthless stock skyrocketed by 1,900% and took a nosedive shortly after.

Snap Inc. и Snap Interactive

Mistaken identity played a mean trick on those who wanted to be among the first buyers of Snap Inc. The company that developed the Snapchat messenger announced its IPO in 2017 but did not specify the date. Nevertheless, impatient investors began buying shares of the company with a similar name. This time, Snap Interactive gained solid profits. It is a company developing online dating services. Its stock leapt from $5 to $15 apiece. This mishmash could hardly happen at present. In 2018, Snap Interactive was renamed as PeerStream.

Zoom Video и Zoom Technologies

Another massive confusion among investors occurred in the spring 2019 when Zoom Video Communications, the US communications technology company, conducted its IPO. Its stocks skyrocketed by over 70% on the first trading day. This spike is nothing compared to the roaring success of Zoom Technologies, the little known Chinese company that sells electronic communication products. In light of the news from Zoom Video on the upcoming IPO, the stocks of its Chinese namesake surged by a whopping 47,000% on one trading day and its market value multiplied to $8 million.