Robinhood traders are betting against veteran billionaire investors like Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn — and they're winning
- There has been a surge in retail-trading activity since COVID-19 stay-at-home orders swept the nation.
- Part of the increase in trading activity by retail investors has been chalked up to sports bettors speculating on stocks because of the suspension of professional sports leagues during the pandemic.
- Barstool Sports' David Portnoy, aka Davey Day Trader, has led the charge of introducing a new audience to stocks — his trading videos often get up to 1 million views on Twitter.
- This group of traders has been betting on beaten-down stocks that veteran billionaire investors like Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn have abandoned. And they're starting to win.
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Robinhood traders have been placing big bets against veteran billionaire investors, and they're starting to win.
Since COVID-19 stay-at-home orders swept the nation, there's been a surge in retail-brokerage trading, partly fueled by a new group of investors looking for excitement as professional sports leagues are suspended.
Barstool Sports' David Portnoy, known as Davey Day Trader on Twitter, has led the charge in introducing a new audience to investing through the videos he posts on Twitter, which often get up to 1 million views. He often talks about the stocks he's trading and why he's trading them, before going on impassioned rants about the market and political environment.
Recently, this new group of traders has been betting against the likes of veteran billionaire investors including Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and Stanley Druckenmiller.
First up is Buffett and the airline stocks.
In early May, Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway had liquidated its stake in the "big four" airlines. Around the same time, Robinhood investors and Portnoy started piling into airline stocks, as evidenced by a surge in assets in the US Global Jets exchange-traded fund.
Since Buffett revealed that he sold his airline stocks, the ETF has surged 55%.
Robinhood traders: 1. Veteran billionaire investors: 0.
Next up is Icahn and Hertz.
In late May, Icahn said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that he liquidated his position in Hertz at an average price of $0.72 per share, representing a loss of more than $1.8 billion. Hertz recently filed for bankruptcy, sending its shares into a tailspin.
But retail traders, apparently not scared that Hertz's equity could be wiped out by its bankruptcy proceedings, have piled into the stock. The number of Robinhood accounts that own Hertz has nearly doubled since the start of its bankruptcy proceedings, to 73,000 as of Friday.
Since Icahn liquidated his position, Hertz has skyrocketed more than 400%.
Robinhood traders: 2. Veteran billionaire investors: 0.
Last up is Druckenmiller, David Tepper, and Chamath Palihapitiya.
In mid-May, the trio said in individual interviews with CNBC and the Economic Club of New York that stocks were too high. Druckenmiller called the market set-up at the time one of the worst risk-reward profiles he'd ever seen. Tepper called the stock market the second most overvalued in history. And Palihapitiya said the markets were "too damn high."
But retail traders continued to pile into the market. According to data from Robintrack, more than 12,000 Robinhood accounts bought the SPDR S&P 500 ETF since the investors' comments in mid-May, bringing the total to nearly 100,000.
Since then, the S&P 500 index has rallied 15%, and Druckenmiller said on Monday that he'd been "humbled" by the recent rally in the stock market.
Robinhood traders: 3. Veteran billionaire investors: 0.
While retail traders have been on the winning side of trades against billionaire investors in the short term, what happens in the long term is still up in the air.
Economists have said that a second wave of COVID-19 infections poses the biggest threat to the US economy this year. If a second wave does in fact hit the US, retail traders would be wise to book some profits after such a strong and quick rally.