By 2024, one of the best-known traits shared by many U.S. politicians has become their uncanny ability to trade the right stocks at the right time – or their courage to engage in insider trading, as some, like “The Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort have suggested.
So far, Congress has taken the bulk of the attention thanks to the highly successful investments of Nancy Pelosi, the even more lucrative stock market activities of Brian Higgins, and certain Ethics Committee members’ affinity for gambling companies.
Still, it is worth remembering that much like the American parliament bicameral, so are the U.S. elected officials’ stock market successes.
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One Senator, for example, has made significant returns in only a few months on what was described as one of the most suspicious trades of the year by Quiver Quantitative – a platform most recognizable for sharing politicians’ odd trades on X.
Senator Tina Smith’s highly lucrative investment
Senator Tina Smith invested approximately $250,000 in a healthcare company called Tactile Systems (NASDAQ: TCMD) on November 8, 2023, when the shares were priced at approximately $10.
The trade itself is odd for several reasons. To begin with, the TCMD’s market cap stood well below $500 million at purchase time – significantly less than what U.S. politicians tend to invest in.
Tactile System is also a Minnesota-based company, while Smith is a Minnesota-based senator and has gotten millions in government contracts since the purchase.
Additionally, Senator Smith sits on the Senate Committee on Health.
Finally, whether the suspicion is merited or not, the investment has been wildly profitable. Since November 8, TCMD stock has surged from $10 to $16.31 – 63.1%. This means that the original $250,000 investment grew by more than $157,000 and is worth approximately $407,000 less than five months later on March 15.
Senator Smith’s annual salary is reported as $174,000.
Tactile Systems stock price chart
Probably at least in part due to lucrative government contracts, Tactile Systems has been doing fairly well in the stock market in 2024.
Year-to-date (YTD), TCDM shares are up 14.54%, though they have been trading with notable volatility.
Their more recent performance is also mostly positive and the last 30 days saw them climb 6.74% and the last 7 days 2.77%.
Finally, Tactile Systems stock ended the latest full trading day – Thursday, March 14 – at $16.31, 1.30% in the green.
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
