Ordinary investors are souring on Big Tech

“I feel like they’re probably running out of steam," said the 60-year-old entrepreneur based in Cedarville, Calif. She plans to invest the profits in a different pair of funds focused on international companies. “Knowing that it’s still a really volatile market, it just makes me say, ‘I’ve made enough on these.’"

Andrews is just one of the ordinary investors reconsidering how much money to hold in the market’s longtime stars, particularly the so-called Magnificent Seven group of tech behemoths—Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla.

When President Trump’s tariff announcement sent major U.S. stock indexes tumbling earlier this year, the Magnificent Seven helped lead the way down. In the days that followed, individual investors rushed to buy shares at a discount, a multibillion-dollar dip-buying spree that powered the speedy recovery to near all-time highs.

While few are throwing in the towel, analysts say investors are moving some money into newer trades. Some are searching for new opportunities in international stocks or shares of smaller companies. Some have moved to the relative stability of utilities, or companies making consumer staples. Some are just wary that the Magnificent Seven’s popularity has stretched valuations.

“They’ve broadened their focus," said Steve Sosnick, the chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. “Having rallied so far so fast, people are not quite as eager to chase it."

Investors will get new insight into the economic impact of the Trump administration tariff policies that spurred the April selloff this coming week, with fresh figures due on consumer confidence, first-quarter GDP and the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. The economic effects of the trade war have been muted thus far, and analysts say it might take until second-quarter earnings reports roll out later this summer to get a better sense of how trade shifts have affected the largest U.S. companies.

Individual investors have cut back on purchases of the Magnificent Seven and other tech giants in recent weeks, according to Vanda Research. Retail buying has fallen as a percentage of total inflows to about 23% in mid-June from about 41% at the start of April’s market turmoil.

Investors more broadly are funneling smaller sums into the tech sector this year than other parts of the market. A net $7.1 billion has flowed into tech-focused exchange-traded funds in 2025 so far, according to Morningstar Direct, which includes both retail and institutional flows. Meanwhile, funds that attempt to buy stocks at a discount saw an inflow of roughly $25 billion, while international ETFs logged a net inflow of nearly $70 billion.

After scooping up shares of Tesla and Nvidia during the selloff this spring, Tom Griffin has pivoted to purchases of UnitedHealth and Wells Fargo, which he loaded up on after the bank announced it would no longer be required to operate under a regulator-imposed asset cap.

The Texas-based cattle rancher, 42, said he isn’t so much turning away from tech as he is searching for shares of large, reliable companies at a decent price. That means shares of the large-cap tech stocks looked much more tempting a couple months ago than they do now.

“When the whole market dips, that’s when you buy the important huge companies," he said.

Few are giving up on big tech stocks. Microsoft recently hit fresh highs. Nvidia, Tesla and Apple were still some of the most-traded tickers on the Interactive Brokers platform last week. And some of the newly popular trades reflect similar bets on the growth of artificial intelligence, with individual investors favoring related companies such as software company Palantir and nuclear-energy startup Oklo.

But Paul Taylor for months has been shrinking his holdings of the Magnificent Seven, which once made up nearly half of his investments. The Buffalo, N.Y., resident didn’t buy any more shares during the stock slide. Instead, he picked up shares of Berkshire Hathaway, retailers including Walmart and even, for the first time, a gold ETF.

“It was too much of a good thing," the 70-year-old said of the tech shares, though he added he would never completely eliminate the Magnificent Seven stocks from his portfolio. “I just don’t think they warrant what they’re priced at right now."

Write to Hannah Erin Lang at hannaherin.lang@wsj.com