Retail investors talked up five hot stocks this week (April 27 to May 1) on X and Reddit's r/WallStreetBets, driven by retail hype, Iran war, earnings, AI buzz, and corporate news flow.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY), hardware, semiconductors, cloud, fintech, social media, AI, and pharmaceutical, reflected diverse investor interests.
Apple
- Apple reported strong second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on April 30, posting record March-quarter revenue of $111.2 billion and EPS of $2.01. iPhone revenue showed solid growth, Mac and Services hit highs, while gross margins expanded; the company also authorized another $100B in buybacks and raised its dividend 4% to $0.27/share. This marked Tim Cook‘s final earnings call as CEO before transitioning to executive chairman, with John Ternus taking over as CEO later in 2026.
- Some retail investors were appreciating AAPL’s approach of not investing heavily in AI as compared to its Magnificent 7 peers.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $193.25 to $288.62, trading around $270 to $279 per share, as of the publication of this article. It rose 27.69% over the year, but declined by 0.02% and 0.19% over the last six months and year-to-date, respectively.
- AAPL had a strong price trend in the medium, short and long term, with a poor value ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.
Alphabet
- Alphabet reported strong first-quarter 2026 earnings, with consolidated revenue rising 22% YoY to $109.9 billion, driven by robust Google Search/YouTube ads and especially Google Cloud revenue surging 63% to over $20 billion for the first time. Net income jumped 81% to $62.6 billion, aided by operating margin expansion to 36.1% and unrealized gains on equity securities. The company also raised its 2026 capex guidance to $180-190 billion to fuel AI infrastructure demand, and hiked its quarterly dividend 5% to $0.22 per share. –
- Retail investors were highly bullish on GOOG after its stellar earnings.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $149.49 to $382.63, trading around $380 to $385 per share, as of the publication of this article. It advanced by 137.39% over the year and 35.49% in the last six months. The stock was also up 21.71% YTD.
- GOOG had a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a good quality ranking as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.
Robinhood Markets
- Robinhood released its first quarter 2026 earnings after the market close on April 28, reporting total net revenue of $1.07 billion and diluted EPS of $0.38, but both missed analyst expectations. The miss was driven primarily by a sharp 47% year-on-year drop in cryptocurrency revenue to $134 million amid lower trading volumes, though this was partially offset by strong growth in options up 8%, equities up 46%, and especially other transaction revenue up 320%, largely from event contracts/prediction markets.
- Some retail investors who had bet on HOOD were disappointed by its performance following the latest earnings results.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $45.56 to $153.86, trading around $71 to $74 per share, as of the publication of this article. It advanced 48.42% over the year, but was down 47.21% in the last six months. The stock was 35.55% lower YTD.
- Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings showed that HOOD had a weak price trend in the long, short, and medium terms with a solid growth score.
Meta Platforms
- Meta Platforms reported strong first-quarter 2026 earnings after the market close on April 29, with revenue rising 33% YoY to $56.31 billion, driven by robust advertising performance. Operating income reached $22.87 billion, while net income hit $26.77 billion, significantly boosted by an $8.03 billion one-time tax benefit; excluding it, adjusted EPS was ~$7.31, still ahead of consensus. The company raised its full-year 2026 capex guidance to $125–145 billion due to higher AI infrastructure costs and component pricing, while signaling continued heavy investment in AI.
- Following its massive AI capex spending announcement, some retail investors expressed that this may be an “end of META,” and “rise” of RDDT.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $520.26 to $796.25, trading around $610 to $615 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up 11.46% over the year, down 8.19% over the last six months, and 7.30% YTD.
- META maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate value score as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings.
Eli Lilly
- LLY reported a strong first-quarter 2026 earnings beat on April 30, with revenue surging 56% year-on-year to $19.8 billion, primarily driven by robust demand for its GLP-1 drugs: Mounjaro sales reached $8.7 billion, and Zepbound hit $4.2 billion. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $8.55, and the company raised its full-year 2026 guidance to revenue of $82–85 billion. On April 27, Lilly announced it would acquire Ajax Therapeutics for up to $2.3 billion to strengthen its pipeline.
- Some investors were disappointed that they did not hold a position in LLY after its blockbuster earnings.
- The stock had a 52-week range of $623.78 to $1,133.95, trading around $933 to $938 per share, as of the publication of this article. It advanced by 3.97% over the year, and 10.67% over the last six months, but LLY was down 13.03% YTD.
- According to Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, LLY was maintaining a weak price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a strong growth ranking.
Retail focus blended meme-driven narrative with earnings outlook and corporate news flow, as the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq witnessed positive market action during the week.
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