Robinhood shares climb following bullish Mizuho comments

investing.com:

Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) shares are up more than 7% Wednesday following positive comments from Mizuho analysts regarding the company's potential crypto share gains.

Analysts, who have a Buy rating and a $14 per share price target on the stock, said their firm attended a dinner event with HOOD's Co-Founders Vlad Tenev (CEO) and Baiju Bhatt (CCO), as well as the company's CFO Jason Warnick and several top managers.

The analysts said pricing transparency boosts the broker's crypto share gains, while its international expansion is also a big catalyst.

«We were most pleased to hear about HOOD's share gains in crypto (+75% M/M in November vs. our est. +60% for COIN),» wrote the analysts.

They explained that those gains were helped by the platform's price transparency, a 'flight to safety' for customers post-Binance/FTX, the opportunity to benefit from a Bitcoin ETF, its expansion into Europe and potentially Asia in the future, building new products, and management's ability to learn its customers' needs.

HOOD's management was said to be bullish on continuing to gain share in the crypto space, with its pricing transparency offering a «key competitive advantage.»

Meanwhile, Mizuho feels the Bitcoin ETF could make HOOD's diversified business model shine, while they also labeled Europe and Asia as the «next frontiers» for the company.

Furthermore, Mizuho said, «retirement with 'no employer necessary' is a classic example of how HOOD innovates by listening to Its customers.»

The firm is «very bullish about HOOD's ability to expand into retirement services,» with retirement «a good example of management's unique approach,» said the analysts.