Etsy shares jump 9% after Elon Musk tweets he ‘kinda loves’ the e-commerce stock

Shares of Etsy are popping on Tuesday after Tesla chief Elon Musk sent a simple tweet about the e-commerce company.

Ety’s stock rose 9% in premarket trading following Musk’s tweet that said “I kinda love Etsy.”

The e-commerce company wasn’t moving at all in the premarket prior to Musk’s early morning call out. It’s now set to be the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 when markets open.

While Musk’s opinion certainly holds a lot of weight with investors, the spike in the stock on his short message is another sign of wild, speculative trading in the market recently. Musk is no stranger to wild activity on Twitter, with a history of influencing stock prices, especially Tesla shares, with bold statements on the social media platform.

Musk infamously tweeted last year that Tesla’s stock was “too high,” sending shares even higher a week later.

Shares of Etsy are up more than 313% in the past 12-months as the shopping marketplace emerged as a major winner from the coronavirus pandemic. Etsy helped small businesses without an online presence reach consumers during the lockdown.

The stock is up 17% this year alone.

Jefferies also raised its 12-month price target on Etsy to a Street high of $245 per share on Tuesday.

“We believe behavioral changes incited by the pandemic allow ETSY to tap a broader portion of its $1.7Taddressable market, leading to higher frequency and spending,” Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni told clients.

“Our DCF-derived PT increases to $245(from $205) as accelerating traffic and our deep dive into long-term GMS improves ourconfidence in ETSY’s ability to continue growing faster than overall e-commerce,” Colantuoni added.

— with reporting from CNBC’s Michael Bloom.

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