Retail traders are loading up on 2 financials in particular after big drops during the crisis

Published Thu, Apr 13 202311:03 AM EDT

Jesse Pound @/in/jesse-pound @jesserpound

Retail traders are beginning to buy the dip in some financial stocks that were hit hard during the banking crisis, according to JPMorgan. Strategist Peng Cheng said in a note to clients Wednesday evening that, while retail traders are pulling back from individual stocks in general, two financial names are surprisingly popular: Charles Schwab and Truist . "At the single stock level, retail traders net sold -$1.8B this past week. Large cap tech names were universally sold: TSLA -$310MM, AAPL -$208MM, AMZN -$151MM. On the other hand, we saw buying in Financials, led by SCHW (+$56MM) and TFC (+$14MM)," the note said. While neither company was viewed as the most likely candidate for the next bank run after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month, the stocks have been under pressure along with other financials. Shares of Schwab are down nearly 38% since the start of March, while Truist's stock is down 28% over the same time period. One potential reason for the optimism traders have around these firms is that they don't fit neatly into the regional bank category, which has been a major source of concern over the past month, and could benefit as investors examine the companies more closely. Truist was created by a merger of two large regionals in BB & T and SunTrust, and is now much larger than many of its old peers. Truist had $555 billion of assets at the end of December, making it more than twice as big as SVB. However, half of Wall Street analysts who cover Truist have a hold rating on the stock, according to Refinitiv. Truist will report its quarterly results April 20. For Schwab, the company is most well known as a brokerage, making it an odd fit with regional banks. Schwab's management said in a letter on April 6 that daily deposit outflows were actually lower in March than in February, and that it brought in more than $50 billion of net new client assets across its business. The majority of analysts who cover Schwab have a buy or strong buy rating on the stock, according to Refinitiv. Schwab will host a spring investor update Monday. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.