5 Most Popular Stocks on Robinhood

4. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders: 37

Robinhood Popularity Ranking (Q1 2021 – Q2 2023): 3^rd (38 points)

Stock Performance (January 1, 2021 – June 6, 2023): +43.2%

Hedge fund ownership of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) hit a ten-year high in the middle of 2021, but has fallen by 36% since. Robinhood retail investors on the other hand, which are bullish on two different EV makers, also like Ford, which previously ranked as the second-best selling EV maker in North America. Their investments paid off, as F shares have gained 38% since January 1, 2021.

The automaker’s EV sales are starting to slip however (it fell behind GM to rank as the third-best selling EV maker in North America during Q1) and it’s losing a significant amount of money on EV sales (the company projects to lose $3 billion this year on its consumer EV sales). Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) does expect EVs to be profitable by 2026, by which time it’s projecting an 8% profit margin on them compared to a 40% operating margin loss in 2022.

Leaven Partners discussed the earnings outlook for Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“In our last quarterly letter, I briefly mentioned that the consensus estimates for corporate profits appeared to be a bit too sanguine. I referenced a Reuters article that reported, as of June 17, Wall Street expected S&P 500 earnings to grow by 9.6% in 2022, which was up from 8.8% in April and from 8.4% in January. That tune began to change at the end of July and accelerated in August and September, as major players, such as Ford (NYSE:F), has recently issued profit warnings and/or have withdrawn guidance. In response, Wall Street has altered its outlook: lowering third-quarter profit growth to 4.6%^[2] from 7.2% in early August and slashing full-year profit growth to 4.5%.”