More than 63,000 Robinhood traders piled into Kodak shares during its 2,100% rally

Thomson Reuters

• The share of Robinhood investors holding Kodak stock spiked on Wednesday as the company soared as much as 2,189% over two days.
• The camera company tore higher in Tuesday and Wednesday trading after it received a $765 million loan to make drug ingredients for the fight against coronavirus.
• Before the loan was announced, about 9,300 Robinhood investors held Kodak shares, according to Robintrack.net. By Wednesday at noon, that sum surged above 72,000.
• Watch Kodak trade live here.

The number of Robinhood investors holding Kodak stock grew nearly eight-fold from Tuesday morning to noon on Wednesday amid the company’s extraordinary rally.

The stock leaped as high as $59.98 in Wednesday trading, bringing its two-day surge to 2,189% at its peak. Kodak shares began tearing higher Tuesday afternoon after the company received a $765 million government loan to make drug ingredients for the fight against the coronavirus. The announcement drove an influx of investor cash to the weakened stock.

Much of the new interest came from Robinhood investors. Retail trading has taken on a larger share of stock market activity in recent months as casual traders look to capitalize on virus-fueled volatility.

Kodak is the latest stock to benefit from the wave of new investors. Before President Trump’s Tuesday announcement of Kodak’s loan, roughly 9,300 Robinhood traders held the stock, according to Robintrack.net. By noon on Wednesday, that sum spiked above 72,000. Roughly half of the increase took place over just two hours on Wednesday.

Read more: A market-research expert breaks down the 3 sectors and 4 stocks that are best to own as a new Cold War between the US and China heats up

No other stock came close to garnering the same attention on Robinhood through morning trading. The next most-bought stock over the last 24 hours, Heat Biologics, saw just 6% of the activity that Kodak enjoyed over the same period.

Similar buying sprees have taken place on Robinhood throughout the year. After Hertz announced its bankruptcy in late May, retail traders flooded the stock with cash with hopes that it would miraculously avoid insolvency. The car-rental company rallied more than 900% over nine days, and the share of Robinhood investors holding Hertz shares nearly tripled.

Kodak traded at $37.79 per share as of 1:15 p.m. ET Wednesday, up 808% year-to-date.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

AMD surges 12% after trouncing quarterly estimates and snagging market share from rivals

Bernstein downgrades Tesla and says the stock will tank 42% from its ‘mind-boggling’ valuation

3 Wall Street pros managing $12 billion in assets share their strategies for profiting from the economy’s recovery – and explain why investors should be aggressively taking risks now