When you think of millennials (born between 1980 and 1995) and Gen Z (born from around 1996 to sometime in the 2010s, depending on who you ask)—altogether about 170 million in the US—do you think of an investing powerhouse? You should. Eighteen- to 35-year-olds make up the majority of users of the Robinhood stock trading platform/app. (Remember when Robinhood wouldn’t let you join in on the fun of trading GameStop shares earlier this year?)
That gave IG’s DailyFX a clear way to see which stocks are tops with the young. The site checked data going back a year from April 1, 2021, to see which stocks are top overall (above) and per state.
Take a close look, and you’ll see one stock in particular is missing. GameStop (GME). It was removed because, with the Reddit-fueled madness of the Gamestonk movement, it would have skewed the results.
What’s interesting is that Apple leads in seven states (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and West Virginia) and is also on top nationwide, but the other two most popular stocks may not be familiar to you. Nio is a Chinese rival for Tesla, and its trading volume is ahead of Apple in many states, though it comes in at only number 9 nationwide. Another big one is Plug Power, which makes green hydrogen fuel cells. It has a low stock price but a lot of interest, making it tops in as many states as Apple; it’s number 16 nationwide.
There are plenty of big-name companies on the top-fifty list, including Tesla (right behind Apple), but also plenty of travel companies: American Airlines, Carnival, Delta, Norwegian, and the like; pharma companies such as Pfizer and Moderna; and vehicle and fuel companies including Ford, Marathon Oil, and ExxonMobil. It’s interesting to see Aphria in there, at number 22—it’s a Canadian cannabis company that recently merged with another, Tilray, both of which saw huge surges in stock prices this year. Another is Canopy Grown, also out of Canada, at number 44—a company The Motley Fool says didn’t even turn a profit in 2020.
For our readers, the tech stocks are particularly interesting (although the overlap with industries such as retail and entertainment make it hard to categorize a lot of companies as simply “tech”). After Apple and Tesla come Disney (10), Amazon (12), Microsoft (13), GoPro (14), Snap Inc (18), Fitbit (26), Twitter (34), Netflix (36), Facebook (41), AT&T (42), and Uber (43).
By the way, AMC stock is on the list at number 24, yet it retains more than a whiff of short-squeeze Gamestonk-ery. Do some research before you buy.
What about in the United Kingdom?
Look across the Atlantic to the stocks that make the most volume on Robinhood in the United Kingdom, and the story is a little different. (UK stock volume data dates from April 6, 2021, to a year prior.)
Apple almost didn’t make the top 50 in this list—it comes in at number 48. Instead, Nio is the top trade, and Airbnb (which isn’t in the US top 50) is second. Other tech highlights include Zoom, making the UK list at number 4, along with names not on the US top 50, including Nokia (6), Square (21), PayPal (34), and Sony (43). Companies on both lists include Uber, Tesla, Disney, GoPro, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Take them all into consideration if you’re looking for new stocks to invest in and like to follow the younger crowd. Do your due diligence first, of course. Just because a stock saw a lot of trades in the last year doesn’t mean it won’t drop in value.
Read the full report at DailyFX.com.
