Many of the most popular stocks on the Robinhood trading platform are unintentionally risky. Beleaguered Airlines and cruise lines. Speculative biotechs. Shaky energy companies. They are not the kinds of stocks that you can easily buy and rest.
However, this is not true of all the stocks on Robinhood’s top 100 most popular list, though. Several are anything but beleaguered, speculative and scrupulous. Here are three Robinhood shares that are so solid that you can buy and hold them virtually forever.
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1. Alphabet
Few companies claim as strongly of a ditch against competition as Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL). Just ask Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The software giant spent a boatload of money to combat Alphabet’s Google search engine, launching Bing in 2009. And Google still dominates Internet search with a market share of about 86% – only 4% less than it held a decade ago.
Last year, ads on Google Search, YouTube and other Google properties generated revenue of $ 113.3 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of Alphabet’s total revenue. Indeed, Alphabet posted its first year-over-year revenue in the second quarter, as the COVID-19 outbreak negatively impacted corporate advertising budgets. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, Alphabet still made a profit of close to $ 7 billion on sales of $ 38.3 billion. That’s not bad at all for a temporary limitation.
Alphabet has many other long-term growth drivers. The Google Cloud unit delivered 43% year-over-year sales growth in Q2. The Google Play app store and subscriptions to YouTube helped increase Google’s non-advertising revenue by almost 26%.
In the long run, Alphabet will be an even bigger winner than some of its other investments pay off. The most important unit to look at is self-driving automotive technology company Waymo. However, let’s not overlook Alphabet’s bet on healthcare, with its subsidiaries Calico and Verily.
2. Amazon
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) ranks as another giant tech stock that is a great pick-and-hold pick. The leader of e-commerce also commands a strong competitive advantage that it continues to expand.
The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted Amazon’s business. In fact, CFO Brian Olsavsky acknowledged in the company’s Q2 update that Amazon has more demand than it can handle. Consumers turned to online shopping like never before, while orders for shelter were in place. Expect the e-commerce trend to pick up.
Amazon’s largest source of profit growth is its cloud unit Amazon Web Services. AWS’s corporate income increased 58% year-on-year in Q2, with revenue jumping 29%. While rivals like Google and Microsoft are capturing additional market share, AWS remains an impressive growth engine for Amazon.
The company has no rest on its laurels. Amazon has taken important early steps to expand into other areas. Notably, the online pharmacy acquired PillPack in 2018. Do not be surprised if Amazon uses PillPack as a launch pad to expand its presence in the healthcare sector, possibly including telehealth.
3. PayPal Holdings
PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL) stands out as a big winner of the shift to e-commerce. The company provides a technology platform for digital and mobile payments used by merchants and consumers around the world.
Like Amazon, PayPal continues to benefit from the outbreak of coronavirus. Turnover jumped 22% year-over-year in the second quarter. The company expects to add 70 million net new active customers this year – at least twice as much as it has added annually in recent years.
Will the use of digital payments decrease once the pandemic is over? Almost certainly not. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman declared in the company’s Q2 conference address, “In the midst of the COVID pandemic, we have seen substantial macro changes that we believe will have a lasting and profoundly positive impact on our business.”
PayPal’s Venmo peer – to – peer payment app should continue to enjoy strong momentum as consumers shift from cash and checks to digital payments. By launching QR codes for use with its PayPal and Venmo apps, the company can also benefit from shopping with consumers at brick-and-mortar retail locations. PayPal, like both Alphabet and Amazon, looks like a favorite Robinhood whose popularity may just be permanent.
