- Bernstein analysts call the company “Schwab elite banking but for everyone.”
- A core piece of that is crypto, the analysts said.
- The analysts predict a $105 stock price.
Robinhood is turning into “Schwab elite banking, but for everyone.”
That’s what Bernstein analysts said in a note to investors on March 27 while putting a $105 price target on the stock.
If it hits that level, Robinhood’s market cap would surge to $95 billion, placing it alongside companies like derivatives marketplace CME group.
“Robinhood wants to make higher-end private banking and wealth services available to its target demographic at a more accessible cost, using disruptive technologies such as crypto and AI,” said Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani, Mahika Sapra, and Sanskar Chindalia.
Bernstein isn’t alone in its bullishness.
Morgan Stanley analysts predict a $90 stock price in the next 12 months off the back of a series of new products the firm announced on Thursday.
The company has posted explosive results in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Digital assets accounted for half of Robinhood’s $670 million transaction revenue during the last quarter of 2024.
The figure is a 700% jump compared with the quarter the year before, according to the company’s annual results.
What’s more, those figures drove Robinhood’s total revenue 58% higher in 2024.
“We can be a major player,” Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s crypto head honcho, told DL News in January.
Over the past two years, Robinhood has fortified its crypto team, expanded crypto trading services in Europe, and brought out a stablecoin in a joint venture with Galaxy Digital and Kraken.
These initiatives have put it on a collision course with crypto companies like Coinbase and other fintech firms who are muscling into digital assets.
Hood vs Coin
Bernstein analysts asked investors which company’s stock they are betting on: Coinbase or Robinhood.
“HOOD is the most impressive product pipeline driving scalable revenue lines,“ Bernstein wrote in an investor note on March 21.
Coinbase, meanwhile, is harder to grasp.
“Investors consider COIN a simple crypto trading thesis, and are concerned about rising competition impacting margins.”
Competition is also coming from another traditional finance firm: Revolut.
The UK-based fintech is expanding its breadth of crypto products to its 45 million customers, with plans to launch 210 “vetted” tokens and a crypto payments card.
This week, Schroders, one of Revolut’s biggest backers, upgraded the value of its stake in the fintech. The new valuation would put the challenger bank’s valuation at $48 billion.
Compare that with Robinhood’s market capitalisation of $49 billion.
Riding the Trump trade
When US President Donald Trump began touting crypto as a mainstay in his campaign, traditional fintech companies that dabbled in crypto — like Robinhood — stood to gain the most.
After Trump was elected on November 5, the notional value of Robinhood’s trading volume spiked nearly sixfold, to $35 billion.
“The past few weeks have been crazy,” said Kerbrat.
And analysts anticipate Robinhood will largely benefit during Trump’s second time in office — once macro headwinds clear up.
In a January note to investors, Morgan Stanley said:
“A more favourable US regulatory regime for crypto should enable Robinhood to lean in and participate more aggressively.”
Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.