U.S. politician makes huge semiconductor stock bet

Semiconductor stocks have taken a beating in the past couple of weeks. However, that does not seem to have deterred one U.S. politician.

Finbold’s senatorial trading radar recently picked up a Periodic Transaction Report published on April 20. It reveals that Ashley Moody, the junior United States senator from Florida, executed nine transactions between March 20 and March 25. Each of the trades in question was a semiconductor stock bet.

To be more precise, the senator sold Nvidia stock (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Super Micro Computer stock (NASDAQ: SMCI) call and put options. 

Beyond that, Moody also purchased between $115,002 and $300,000 worth of NVDA shares and between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of SMCI stock.

Are Moody’s purchases a sign that semiconductor stocks will rebound?

First, let’s deal with the current status of Moody’s semiconductor stock bets. The U.S. politician purchased Nvidia stock on March 20 and March 21. 

At the time, NVDA was changing hands at a price of $118.53 and $117.70, respectively. By press time on April 21, Nvidia shares were trading at $99.60 in the pre-market trading session. The chipmaker’s stock closed at $101.43 on Thursday, April 17, before the stock market closed for Good Friday.

Accordingly, NVDA’s latest close was 14.42% and 13.82% lower than at the time of Moody’s purchases. This latest downturn came as a result of the White House’s H20 chip export ban, which has caused numerous Wall Street analysts to cut their price targets.

The Florida senator purchased Super Micro stock on March 25. At the time, SMCI shares were trading at a price of $40.64. At the time of writing, the price of SMCI stock had fallen to $31.19.

Therefore, Moody is down some 23.25% on her second semiconductor stock bet. While analysts are generally optimistic regarding SMCI, the stock is also heavily shorted.

Readers should be wary of taking this as an overly bullish signal. The fact that the senator has seemingly abandoned a more active approach to investing through options contracts, and started buying stocks instead, suggests that, although bullish, Moody has adopted a long-term, buy-and-hold approach — which does not augur well for a semiconductor stock rebound in the near term.

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