Robinhood clients bought into these stocks during the coronavirus market rout

Published Wed, Jun 3 202011:59 AM EDTUpdated Wed, Jun 3 202012:08 PM EDT

(This story is for CNBC Pro subscribers only.) Younger investors jumped at the opportunity to make money off of the coronavirus sell-off. Millennial-favored trading app Robinhood saw a flood of new clients during the Covid-19 market sell-off and many clients were buying into the same pandemic-related stocks. "We see a lot of buying activity of specifically industries that were impacted by the pandemic," Robinhood co-founder and co-CEO Vladimir Tenev said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & FinTech Conference on Wednesday. Robinhood and the major online brokers saw a major jump in new users during the coronavirus sell-off, bolstered by zero commissions and fractional trades. Robinhood saw a historic 3 million new accounts in the first few months of the year, while the market experienced its fastest bear market and worst first quarter on record. "We've been seeing historic activity in the financial markets. We see customers trading at record volumes," said Tenev. "Younger investors have always been a segment we are really focused on." Robinhood — which serves over 10 million customers with the average client age being 31 — saw new investors piling into stay-at-home stocks and those most beaten down by the economic shutdown. Investor traded "a lot in airlines, a decent amount of buying in video conferencing, streaming services, some biopharmacuetical as well," said Tenev. Airlines were one of the hardest-hit industries from the pandemic as travel bans and consumers fear of leaving their homes caused demand to evaporate. However, the major U.S. airline stocks have bounced back during the market rebound in April in May. If Robinhood clients bought United Airlines at its March low, investors would have raked in more than 85% return. Video conferencing company Zoom and streaming platform Netflix were also high-flying stocks during the market rout due to work-from-home and stay-at-home trends. Zoom grew its revenue nearly 170% in the first quarter as the pandemic drove millions of new customers to the video calling service. Shares of Zoom are up more than 225% in 2020. Streaming giant Netflix, which is up about 30% this year, also saw a record number of new subscribers in the first quarter. More than half of Robinhood's clients are new investors; however, many have long-term investing goals. "People aren't just trading directionally, they're overwhelmingly buying and going long companies," said Vlad. "It's really an interesting time — doubly interesting — and we have to learn to operate a company in this new paradigm but also, sort of, customers are increasingly interested in investing in the markets and buying into the global economy."

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(This story is for CNBC Pro subscribers only.)

Younger investors jumped at the opportunity to make money off of the coronavirus sell-off.

Millennial-favored trading app Robinhood saw a flood of new clients during the Covid-19 market sell-off and many clients were buying into the same pandemic-related stocks.

"We see a lot of buying activity of specifically industries that were impacted by the pandemic," Robinhood co-founder and co-CEO Vladimir Tenev said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & FinTech Conference on Wednesday.

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