Booming Crypto Trading Powers Robinhood Earnings Beat, Analysts Raise Targets

Robinhood (HOOD) shares surged in pre-market activity Thursday after the popular trading app reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates driven by a massive jump in crypto revenue.

The company reported $358 million in crypto transaction revenue in the quarter, the highest contribution from digital-asset trading to date, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Wednesday.

JPMorgan raised its price target for the stock to $45 from $39, while maintaining its neutral rating. Citi (C) raised its target to $60 from $45 and kept its neutral rating on the stock. Broker Bernstein more than doubled it price objective to $105 from $51 and kept an outperform rating on the shares.

The stock jumped 13% to $63.20 in early trading Thursday following results, released after the market closed on Wednesdy.

Robinhood said fourth-quarter revenue rose 115% from the previous year to $1.01 billion, beating Wall Street analysts' estimate of $945.8 million, according to FactSet data. Transaction-based earnings increased 200% year-on-year, mainly due to a 700% rise in cryptocurrency revenue.

Crypto revenue normally contributes 10%-20% of total revenue, JPMorgan noted. The 46% jump in total cryptocurrency market cap in the period and the increase in Robinhood notional volumes, which were 393% higher quarter-on-quarter, fueled the revenue beat.

The company has big plans for its crypto business. "Management seeks to add more tokens, strengthen its wallet offering, add an order book with exchange routing functionality, integrate Bitstamp and explore tokenization longer-term," the report said.

Robinhood has benefitted from favorable trends since the start of the year, with "crypto market tailwinds and retail activity remaining strong," Citi said.

If this positive backdrop is maintained, the shares are likely to see support, but investors should expect volatility. While the bank has become more positive on the company's fundamental outlook, it said it preferred to wait for a "more reasonable entry point."

Bernstein reiterated that Robinhood was the best idea in the broker's global digital assets coverage. It said it expected continued momentum in the first quarter "driven by crypto volatility and a sustained price cycle."

Read more: Robinhood's Big Earnings Beat Could Bode Well for Coinbase