Needham upgrades Robinhood to buy, says Trump victory will boost the stock

Robinhood is slated for more gains under a second Trump term, according to Needham. Analyst John Todaro upgraded the financial services platform to buy from hold. His $40 price target implies nearly 24% upside from Friday’s close. The stock has already had a monster rally this year, posting year-to-date gains of more than 153%. HOOD YTD mountain HOOD, year-to-date “Robinhood is positioned to be a major beneficiary of more positive regulation within the crypto space, while emerging as a leader in its equity & options offering via advanced trading product launches,” the analyst told clients in a note. “We expect HOOD to launch a number of new crypto related products, in particular those that appeal to a retail customer base, in 2025 which should allow the company to take share from centralized and decentralized peers.” While Todaro pointed out that Robinhood has had to limit its product offerings to avoid enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission, a new chair under President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration may prompt it to launch new offerings. Along with that, the analyst sees more upside ahead due to Robinhood being a beneficiary of a “retail driven” bull market. “We expect a retail driven bull market to be in HOOD’s favor as the company has been successful in launching ‘meme’ related trading products which appeal to retail customers,” the analyst continued. Piper Sandler analyst Patrick Moley has also grown more bullish on the stock amid bitcoin’s price surge, upping his price target by $6 to $36. That implies more than 11% upside from Friday’s close. With about six months to go until the next bitcoin “halving” event, Moley thinks crypto prices should continue to trend upward over the next six to 12 months. This comes as bitcoin has been experiencing a monster rally of its own, with the price of the cryptocurrency surging more than 32% since Election Day . Analysts sentiment on the stock is mixed, according to LSEG. Eight of 17 covering the stock have a buy or strong buy rating on the name, while the remaining ones have hold or underperform ratings. The average price target also points to 17% downside. Shares of Robinhood rose more than 4% following the calls.