Robinhood tops estimates amid volatility as crypto slows

(Bloomberg/Paige Smith) — Retail investors flocked to Robinhood Markets Inc. as President Donald Trump’s global tariffs roiled markets, boosting the company’s revenue and earnings, even as growth in cryptocurrency revenue slowed.

Total net revenue jumped 50% from a year earlier to $927 million, while net income more than doubled to to $336 million. Per-share earnings of 37 cents topped analysts’ estimates of 33 cents.

“We started the year off strong, driving market share gains,” Chief Financial Office Jason Warnick said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s also great to see strong customer engagement to start Q2.”

The company increased its share repurchase authorization by $500 million to $1.5 billion, “reflecting management and the board’s confidence in our financial strength and future growth prospects,” Warnick said. Through April 25, 20 million shares have been bought back for a total of $667 million, the company said.

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When the S&P 500 dipped as Trump imposed new tariffs on countries around the world, retail investors saw an opportunity to buy the market swings, though it remains to be seen what long-term effect the administration’s ever-shifting policies will have on the wider economy.

The firm saw 4.5 million contracts traded in futures in April, Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview, indicating that Robinhood customers are taking advantage of new ways to trade amid volatility as the firm diversifies its offerings.

“That became very, very useful in the market environment in early April,” he said.

While Robinhood’s cryptocurrency revenue doubled to $252 million for the first three months of the year, growth slowed from each of the four previous quarters.

Shares of the firm were little changed at 11:07 a.m. in New York, and are up 32% this year.

Robinhood announced during the quarter that it will begin offering bank-like services to its paying subscribers later this year, building on its investing and credit-card offerings. The checking and savings accounts continue to push the Menlo Park, California-based firm beyond its controversial meme-stock days of the pandemic.

–With assistance from Sonali Basak, Katie Greifeld and Matthew Miller.

(Updates with CEO comments in sixth paragraph, shares in penultimate paragraph.)

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