Shares of President Joe Biden’s media companies soared Friday following his disastrous performance in Thursday night’s debate with former President Donald Trump.
Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of social media platform Truth Social, jumped more than 10% in premarket trading on Friday, a sign that investors are growing confident that President Trump can return to the White House.
Nasdaq-listed shares of TMTG gave up most of their gains after the open and were up just over 1 percent to $37.21 in mid-morning trading.
Investors typically value companies based on fundamentals and metrics such as price-to-earnings ratios and earnings per share, but TMTG’s share price depends on the political fortunes of Trump, who is the company’s chairman and largest shareholder.
TMTG reported March quarter revenue of $770,500 and an adjusted operating loss of $12.1 million. Its most recent market capitalization was $6.7 billion.
But a Trump victory in November would likely boost Truth Social’s status as the platform would become Trump’s primary means of speaking to the public, much as he did with Twitter during the 2016 campaign.
“These moves will be increasingly linked to the evolving election expectations surrounding Trump. The market is happy to have one gauge that factors all of this in,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, told Reuters.
“Fundamentally speaking, there’s not much behind Trump Media & Technology Group. Most of what we see is speculative.”
Biden, an 81-year-old Democrat, stuttered and appeared lethargic and weak during Thursday’s debate, sparking panic within the party and calls for him to step aside in favor of a younger candidate.
A CNN post-debate poll found that two in three viewers thought Trump had won.
TMTG shares have more than doubled this year as Trump gains momentum to become the Republican nominee.
The company’s shares fell after a jury found Trump guilty earlier this month of falsifying documents to conceal payments to silence porn actresses.
According to LSEG data, Trump owned 64.9% of TMTG as of June 10, valuing it at about $4.2 billion as of the previous trading day’s closing price.
Meanwhile, shares of prison operators Geo Group and CoreCivic rose 4.9% and 2.9%, respectively, on hopes of a tougher crackdown on illegal immigration.
During the debate, Trump said Biden had failed to secure the southern border.
With post wire
