This website collects cookies to deliver better user experience. Cookie Policy
Accept
Sign In
The Wall Street Publication
  • Home
  • Trending
  • U.S
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Markets
    • Personal Finance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Style
    • Arts
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: Robinhood Gets Robbed in Heard’s Annual Stock-Picking Contest
Share
The Wall Street PublicationThe Wall Street Publication
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • U.S
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
    • Markets
    • Personal Finance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Style
    • Arts
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
© 2024 The Wall Street Publication. All Rights Reserved.
The Wall Street Publication > Blog > Markets > Robinhood Gets Robbed in Heard’s Annual Stock-Picking Contest
Markets

Robinhood Gets Robbed in Heard’s Annual Stock-Picking Contest

Editorial Board Published December 24, 2021
Share
Robinhood Gets Robbed in Heard’s Annual Stock-Picking Contest
SHARE

The winner of this year’s Heard on the Street stock-picking contest, at least in spirit, appears to have been the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Contents
Newsletter Sign-upHeard Alert

The competition, in which Heard on the Street columnists and ordinary Wall Street Journal readers make virtual picks to see who fares best—on paper—between early August and late December, took place this year against a particularly fitting backdrop. Real-life stock picking caught fire early in 2021 as many small-time investors picked up tips from online forums such as Reddit. They then flocked to retail-oriented brokerage platforms like the promisingly named Robinhood Markets HOOD 2.83% to place fee-free trades.

Return on recommendations by Heard columnists

Robinhood Markets

Deliveroo

Pinterest

FormFactor

Ajinomoto

Advance Auto Parts

Steris

D.R. Horton

Warner Music

GameStop

Robert Half International

Airbnb

New Residential Investment

Coinbase Global

Royalty Pharma

Caterpillar

Future PLC

Mission Produce

Pool Corp.

QuantumScape

Freyr Battery

Herbalife Nutrition

Adyen

Air China

Victoria’s Secret

Trupanion

GrowGeneration

LOST MONEY

MADE MONEY

Note: Return on recommendations based on price change from the date of each pick through Dec. 17. Picks were made Aug. 9-26.

Source: FactSet

Return on recommendations by Heard columnists

Robinhood Markets

Deliveroo

Pinterest

FormFactor

Ajinomoto

Advance Auto Parts

Steris

D.R. Horton

Warner Music

GameStop

Robert Half International

Airbnb

New Residential Investment

Coinbase Global

Royalty Pharma

Caterpillar

Future PLC

Mission Produce

Pool Corp.

QuantumScape

Freyr Battery

Herbalife Nutrition

Adyen

Air China

Victoria’s Secret

Trupanion

GrowGeneration

LOST MONEY

MADE MONEY

Note: Return on recommendations based on price change from the date of each pick through Dec. 17. Picks were made Aug. 9-26.

Source: FactSet

Return on recommendations by Heard columnists

Robinhood Markets

Deliveroo

Pinterest

FormFactor

Ajinomoto

Advance Auto Parts

Steris

D.R. Horton

Warner Music

GameStop

Robert Half Intl.

Airbnb

New Residential Invest.

Coinbase Global

Royalty Pharma

Caterpillar

Future PLC

Mission Produce

Pool Corp.

QuantumScape

Freyr Battery

Herbalife Nutrition

Adyen

Air China

Victoria’s Secret

Trupanion

GrowGeneration

LOST MONEY

MADE MONEY

Note: Return on recommendations based on price change from the date of each pick through Dec. 17. Picks were made Aug. 9-26.

Source: FactSet

Return on recommendations by Heard columnists

Robinhood Markets

Deliveroo

Pinterest

FormFactor

Ajinomoto

Advance Auto Parts

Steris

D.R. Horton

Warner Music

GameStop

Robert Half International

Airbnb

New Residential Investment

Coinbase Global

MADE MONEY

Note: Return on recommendations based on price change from the date of each pick through Dec. 17. Picks were made Aug. 9-26.

Royalty Pharma

Caterpillar

Future PLC

Mission Produce

Pool Corp.

QuantumScape

Freyr Battery

Herbalife Nutrition

Adyen

Air China

Victoria’s Secret

Trupanion

GrowGeneration

LOST MONEY

Source: FactSet

Return on recommendations

by Heard columnists

Robinhood Markets

Deliveroo

Pinterest

FormFactor

Ajinomoto

Advance Auto Parts

Steris

D.R. Horton

Warner Music

GameStop

Robert Half International

Airbnb

New Residential Invest.

Coinbase Global

MADE MONEY

Note: Return on recommendations based on price change from the date of each pick through Dec. 17. Picks were made Aug. 9-26.

Royalty Pharma

Caterpillar

Future PLC

Mission Produce

Pool Corp.

QuantumScape

Freyr Battery

Herbalife Nutrition

Adyen

Air China

Victoria’s Secret

Trupanion

GrowGeneration

LOST MONEY

Source: FactSet

While retail punting is nothing new to the stock market, it occurred in such huge volumes this year that a few popular “meme” stocks like GameStop GME -1.21% and AMC AMC -0.56% were pushed to stratospheric valuations that professionals sneered at. But meme stock enthusiasts saw themselves as building a movement not unlike that of the mythological thief of Sherwood Forest—robbing rich Wall Street tycoons on behalf of ordinary, amateur investors. Short sellers, who make money betting against stocks, came to occupy a prominent place in the movement’s pantheon of villains.

Heard on the Street columnists have been largely skeptical of the market’s Reddit revolution, and it showed in many of our picks. One columnist even opted for a “sell” on GameStop itself. She scored a somewhat modest but still positive 4.8% return. The top three columnist picks were all sell recommendations on pandemic-era winners, including Pinterest and British food delivery company Deliveroo, which yielded returns of 36% and 41% respectively.

The single best columnist pick was Telis Demos’s sell rating on Robinhood, which had just gone public on July 29. Equity trading volumes had been falling since the big, Reddit-driven first quarter, Mr. Demos wrote, leaving Robinhood largely dependent on cryptocurrency trading for growth: Gag currency Dogecoin alone accounted for around a quarter of Robinhood’s revenue per user in the second quarter. Should that falter, Robinhood shares look pricey, he warned.


Newsletter Sign-up

Heard Alert

The first word on what Wall Street is talking about.


He was right. Robinhood shares fell 61% from when Mr. Demos made his pick to the end of the contest on Dec. 17. Many of our readers had the same idea: 109 of them picked Robinhood as a sell. But even more, 263, picked it as a buy and didn’t fare so well.

Still, the Reddit crowd wasn’t without some scalps in the contest. The fourth best reader pick overall, with a 172% return, was Avis Budget Group. CAR 3.24% True, car shortages have pushed up rental car prices and profitability this year, but Avis became a genuine meme stock, as day-traders at one point pushed it up from $37.30 at the end of last year to over $300 a share at one point in October. Out of some 15,000 reader picks, the single best one, scoring a 192% return, was for Aehr Test Systems, AEHR 7.34% which makes test equipment for the semiconductor industry.

Still, from at least one point of view Heard columnists’ relative pessimism won the day: The average return for Heard writers was negative 0.5% over the period, while the average reader pick lost 5.8%. Note, however, that the S&P 500 over the same period rose 4.2%, meaning in essence that investors would have been best off sitting out the entire meme wars and hugging the averages.

These results are yet another indication that plain old index funds, not online message boards, have been the biggest democratizing innovation in finance. The original Robin Hood himself might even approve of that.

Write to Aaron Back at [email protected]

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

TAGGED:MarketsPAIDWall Street Publication
Share This Article
Twitter Email Copy Link Print
Previous Article Europe’s Industrial Firms Flash Warning on Energy Costs Europe’s Industrial Firms Flash Warning on Energy Costs
Next Article Cheap Stocks in Europe Can Reward Investors With a Plan Cheap Stocks in Europe Can Reward Investors With a Plan

Editor's Pick

Nicki Minaj Calls Cardi B’s Daughter ‘Ugly’; Cardi Shoots Again That Nicki’s Son Is Nonverbal Because of Drug Use Throughout Being pregnant

Nicki Minaj Calls Cardi B’s Daughter ‘Ugly’; Cardi Shoots Again That Nicki’s Son Is Nonverbal Because of Drug Use Throughout Being pregnant

Studying Time: 3 minutes The Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B beef has been occurring for years. Like, mainly for so…

By Editorial Board 4 Min Read
Maggie Baugh: Every part We Know About Keith City’s Rumored New Girlfriend
Maggie Baugh: Every part We Know About Keith City’s Rumored New Girlfriend

Studying Time: 3 minutes Is Keith City hooking up together with his…

4 Min Read
Map: See the place California FAIR Plan seeks house insurance coverage fee hikes
Map: See the place California FAIR Plan seeks house insurance coverage fee hikes

The FAIR Plan, California’s last-resort insurance coverage program for owners needing fireplace…

5 Min Read

Oponion

How Claude’s 3.7’s new ‘prolonged’ considering compares to ChatGPT o1’s reasoning

How Claude’s 3.7’s new ‘prolonged’ considering compares to ChatGPT o1’s reasoning

Anthropic simply launched a brand new mannequin referred to as…

February 26, 2025

Quiz Clothes lender seeks reply with Interpath rent | Cash Information

Lenders to Quiz Clothes, the troubled…

January 6, 2025

U.K. Inflation Hits 9.4%, a New 40-Year High

The U.K.’s annual rate of inflation…

July 20, 2022

Hawaiian Airlines Bets You’ll Want to Island Hop on Electric Seagliders

Hawaiian Holdings is investing in a…

May 11, 2022

Scaramucci on Kash Patel decide: ‘I don‘t assume the expectation is that he‘s going to get by’

Ex-White Home communications director Anthony Scaramucci…

December 4, 2024

You Might Also Like

Traders have fun Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ election win
Markets

Traders have fun Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ election win

Federated Hermes CIO Stephen Auth weighs in on Japan's first elected feminine prime minister and provides an concept on what…

3 Min Read
Tesla teases Tuesday announcement with social media movies
Markets

Tesla teases Tuesday announcement with social media movies

Niles Funding Administration founder and portfolio Dan Niles discusses Tesla’s potential $1 trillion compensation plan for Elon Musk on ‘The…

5 Min Read
Gold FOMO may push steel to ,000
Markets

Gold FOMO may push steel to $4,000

Pacer ETFs President Sean O’Hara discusses the advantages of ETFs and lays out his favourite investments on ‘The Claman Countdown.’…

3 Min Read
OpenAI turns into world’s most respected non-public firm with 0B valuation: report
Markets

OpenAI turns into world’s most respected non-public firm with $500B valuation: report

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar joins Mornings with Maria to debate main investments from NVIDIA, SoftBank, and others, the U.S.–China AI…

5 Min Read
The Wall Street Publication

About Us

The Wall Street Publication, a distinguished part of the Enspirers News Group, stands as a beacon of excellence in journalism. Committed to delivering unfiltered global news, we pride ourselves on our trusted coverage of Politics, Business, Technology, and more.

Company

  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • WP Creative Group
  • Accessibility Statement

Contact

  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability

Term of Use

  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices

© 2024 The Wall Street Publication. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?