The 4 Robinhood Stocks Wall Street Hates the Most

Robinhood has taken the investing universe by storm, arming a new generation of investors with the tools they need to start putting money to work in the stock market. Many young adults are getting into stock investing for the very first time, and the app-based commission-free brokerage has a lot to do with opening the door to those who were previously reluctant to invest.

However, Robinhood investors don’t always follow Wall Street’s rules. They often like speculative stocks that have chances for big gains but also outsized risk. Many of them trade frequently and sometimes buy shares of doomed companies in the hope of making a quick short-term profit.

As a result, many of the favorite stocks on Robinhood have gotten utterly panned by Wall Street stock analysts. In particular, four of the stocks on the Robinhood Top 100 popularity list stand out as having favorable ratings of less than 10% from analysts. Who’s right: Robinhood investors or Wall Street? Read on to take a closer look.

1. Carnival

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) has gotten a lot of attention over the past year, as the cruise-ship giant has arguably been the company hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The stock is down 57% over the past year, although it’s jumped 140% from its worst levels in late March and early April. Out of 18 analyst ratings that Robinhood tracks, only one rates Carnival a buy, compared to four sell ratings and 13 hold ratings.

It’s easy to understand why Wall Street isn’t excited about Carnival. The company hasn’t been able to set sail for nearly a year now, and with the most recent wave of COVID-19 cases, even the release of vaccines hasn’t allowed Carnival to set firm expectations about when it will be able to go out on the open seas again. Meanwhile, the company expects to lose another $2 billion in the fourth quarter and continues to burn cash at an alarming rate.

The hope among bullish shareholders is that at some point, the pandemic will come under control, and when it does, cruise fans will be excited to finally take the cruises they’ve had to put off for so long. But in the meantime, Carnival has had to continue to raise cash, diluting the interests of current shareholders. That means an eventual recovery might not benefit the stock as much as Robinhood investors would like. Carnival will probably survive, but it might not show up in much higher stock prices.

2. Aurora Cannabis and 3. HEXO

Marijuana stocks are back in the news, and hopes for legalization in the U.S. have many investors betting big on cannabis. However, Wall Street isn’t convinced. Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) gets only a single buy rating among 17 analysts, with four sells and 12 holds. HEXO (NYSE:HEXO) isn’t much different, with one buy, 12 holds, and one sell.

Both Aurora and HEXO had…