Tesla stock remains popular withretail investorsdespite recent declines.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker were down 0.7% at $408.33 in early trading Thursday, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down about 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

Early losses leave Tesla stock down about 6% since the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 28.

Some investors appear to be worried about valuation; Tesla stock trades at about 210 times estimated 2026 earnings, or they are waiting for a new catalyst. Tesla plans to expand its robot-taxi service into nine cities in the first half of 2026. It currently operates commercially in one city, Austin, Texas.

One group adding to their Tesla positions, however, is retail investors.

Investors have been finding refuge in non-AI stocks lately, wrote JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain in a Thursday research note. Coming into Thursday trading, the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF was down more than 6% so far this year, underperforming the S&P 500 by about seven percentage points. Still, “retail investors remained firm in their stock allocation,” adding to Nvidia, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Tesla, Sandisk, and Micron Technology positions this past week.

Tesla was the fourth-most-purchased stock after Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Whether retail buying is a harbinger of better returns in the coming weeks for Tesla shares is hard to say. Coming into Thursday trading, Tesla stock was down about 9% so far this year.

Even if the stock doesn’t turn around, it’s worth checking in on retail trading activity. Tesla is a very popular stock among smaller investors. Retail investors hold about 40% of Tesla stock, according to Bloomberg, about twice the level of other large tech stocks.