(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts cut Robinhood Markets Inc. to sell, less than a year after the bank led its popular initial public offering.
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It joined JPMorgan Chase & Co., the other lead IPO bookrunner, in turning bearish on the free-trading app that rose to prominence during the peak of the pandemic as homebound people turned to online trading to pass the time and make money. Goldman’s William Nance cited continued weakness in account growth and path to profitability getting pushed further out as headwinds for Robinhood.
“We see an acceleration in user growth as a key requirement for shares to re-rate higher,” wrote Nance in a note. Beyond stocks, Nance said their cryptocurrency trading has “much better” economics, but the recent decline in volumes is offsetting the tailwind.
Goldman didn’t comment beyond the note.
It’s a perfect storm for Robinhood shares: losses are mounting and monthly active users and average revenue per user are falling. Shares were down as much as 6%, a whopping 70% below their IPO price and 84% below the record highs in August.
Nance said Robinhood is unlikely to reach profitability in 2023 given its recent growth trends. “We believe this lack of clarity around the path to profitability will prevent the stock from re-rating higher.”
Indeed, analysts on average expect the company to report $658 million loss for next year, according to Bloomberg data.
What’s more, Robinhood is also among the worst high-profile global stock market debuts since the onset of the pandemic, joining the likes of China’s Didi Global Inc. and London’s THG Plc.
(Updates prices in fifth paragraph)
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