This article presents an overview of 5 Most Popular Stocks on Robinhood in 2024. For a detailed overview of such stocks read our article, 11 Most Popular Stocks on Robinhood in 2024.
5. Alphabet Inc Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 166
Alphabet Inc Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares have gained about 12% this year. Despite concerns that the rise of chatbots could dent Alphabet Inc Class C’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) search business, data so far shows Google search market share remains steady. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian recently gave an Outperform rating and a $160 price target to the stock.
The analyst said Alphabet Inc Class C’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) “long-standing core AI/ML capabilities will provide competitive advantages into the Gen-AI era.”
Palm Valley Capital Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Governments have various irons in the fire for curbing (commandeering?) the power of tech titans, with the European Union rolling out the Digital Markets Act, the Federal Trade Commission suing Amazon for illegally using monopoly power, and the DOJ lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s advertising business going to trial in September.
Furthermore, the dominant technology enterprises are not immune from shooting themselves in the foot. Google’s botched launch of its AI model, Gemini, shows the risk of having too much money. You lose discipline. A Pirate Wires exposé into the firm’s culture revealed that employees went to extreme lengths to intentionally degrade the quality of the AI engine’s output for ideological reasons. Try that as a small business! See how far you make it…” (Click here to read the full text)
4. Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 173
Retail investors and hedge funds are piling into Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) to ride the AI wave. While the stock has pulled back recently, analysts believe it has more room to grow as companies continue to purchase Nvidia Corp’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) AI-focused chips to power their AI software. Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is expected to launch new chips in the industry to meet demand.
Of the 933 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 173 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA).
ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“While large cap benchmarks get a lot of attention for a handful of mega cap stocks driving the lion’s share of performance, we would highlight even more extreme and unprecedented concentration in small cap benchmarks. Year to date, one stock, Super Micro Computer has driven 37% of the return of the benchmark, closely followed by MicroStrategy, a unique stock that is largely considered a bitcoin proxy. Together, they accounted for over half of the benchmark’s first quarter return. This compares to NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which accounted for 24% of the return of the S&P 500 Index. The 32 top-performing stocks in the Russell 2000 Growth Index accounted for 100% of its return, versus 81 names driving the S&P 500’s performance this quarter.”
3. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 242
Citi recently increased its price target for Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) to $590 from $525. Citi likes ads innovation, longer reels, a new AI video architecture, and increase in advertisers demand on Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META).
Palm Valley Capital Fund stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“While we are not experts on the beanstalk tech stocks, we do have considerable experience observing behavior during bubbles. For the current crop of market leaders, we wonder: how good can it get? Google, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Amazon’s combined advertising revenue exceeded the total value of the U.S. advertising industry by 2020 and now accounts for nearly 50% of the entire $900 billion global ad market (GroupM estimate). Meta’s top advertiser last year was Temu, a retailer of cheap Chinese goods that is losing money on each U.S. order in an effort to take share from Amazon.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s powerhouse Office division carried a 49% operating margin last year, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram segment had a 47% margin, and Google’s Search earned a 35% operating margin. In other words, purveyors of financial indexes that are primarily constructed by simple, easy-to-replicate formulas sport profit margins that make those of the most dominant technology franchises on Earth seem prosaic. …” (Click here to read the full text)
2. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 293
Huge spending on AI-related software is a major growth catalyst for Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), since Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS platform enables developers to make and deploy AI apps. Wedbush Securities recently named Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) as one of the beneficiaries of the increased ad spending in 2024 as the firm’s survey shows that marketers and advertisers are signfincalty increasing their ad spend budgets this year.
Alphyn Capital Management stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“My previous analysis (Q4 2022 letter) highlighted the significant growth in Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) fulfillment expenses since 2015, masking the true earnings potential of its retail business. Though initially costly, the recent restructuring into regional fulfillment centers has yielded lower fulfillment costs and faster shipping times, leading to increased purchase frequency, especially among Prime members.
Following the regionalization effort, over the last couple of years, Amazon prioritized cost control and reduced capital expenditures. At a high level, the North American segment’s operating income swung from a $240 million loss in 2022 to a healthy $6.4 billion profit (6% margin) in 2023. Combined with continued strength in AWS and advertising, Amazon’s free cash flow (as reported, excluding equipment finance leases and principal repayments) surged from negative $13 billion to positive $36 billion.
Amazon stands out for pioneering the public market strategy of prioritizing long-term growth through sustained low margins and reinvestment, with the ability to later “turn on the taps” for profit. While many public tech companies have tried to replicate this approach, Amazon’s scale and execution capabilities make it one of the few that have successfully pulled it off.”
1. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 302
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is gaining attention of retail investors on Robinhood, and the stock is also the most popular one among the elite hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. AI remains the biggest growth catalyst for Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares. Recently, UBS published a list of its highest-conviction AI stocks. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. UBS said these stocks are positioned to capture the AI-related opportunities over the next six to 24 months.
Diamond Hill Long-Short Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Other top Q4 contributors included Meta and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Social media platform Meta’s digital ad revenues increased during the quarter, while it continued cutting costs — a combination which generated better-than-expected revenues and profits. Shares of software and information technology services provider Microsoft rose as its Azure cloud business continues growing and the company continues capitalizing on its attractive recurring revenue-based model to drive growth.”
Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and insiders. Please subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below. You can also look at the 10 Underperforming Stocks Insiders are Buying and the 10 Dividend Stocks with Over 9% Yield According to Analysts.
