Webull Corp. (NASDAQ:BULL) shares were in focus Thursday after Rosenblatt Securities reiterated its Buy rating, arguing that heavy marketing spend weighs on near-term profit while setting up a stronger 2026 for the digital brokerage.
Rosenblatt's Take On BULL
Analyst Chris Brendler reaffirmed a Buy on BULL and cut his 12‑month price target to 12 from 15, now valuing the stock at 20x 2027 adjusted EBITDA, versus 25x previously.
Webull stock closed at $6.07 on Tuesday implying roughly 100% upside to the new target, with a market cap of about $3.2 billion.
Webull delivered fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $165.2 million, topping both Rosenblatt's $162.7 million estimate and Street consensus of $150.9 million, driven by robust trading activity.
Daily average revenue trades hit 1.2 million, while equity notional volumes climbed to 239 billion and trading revenue reached 112.5 million.
Profit Hit By Marketing Blitz
Despite the top-line beat, adjusted operating profit came in well below expectations as operating expenses surged to $143.6 million versus Rosenblatt's $122.8 million estimate.
Marketing and branding spend jumped 81% quarter-over-quarter to $53.3 million, a move management framed as a performance-based push to acquire high-value active traders after record $3.9 billion in quarterly net deposits.
Rosenblatt highlighted that operating margins excluding marketing reached 45%, underscoring what it sees as strong underlying leverage once spending normalizes.
Management guided that marketing should decline materially in the first quarter of 2026, suggesting the spike was opportunistic, not structural.
Serious Retail Traders As The Moat
The call comes as Webull leans into its positioning as a home for "serious" self-directed investors, a theme CEO Anthony Denier emphasized in a recent Benzinga interview.
Denier argued that Webull's edge lies in building an institutional-grade, mobile-first ecosystem for highly engaged retail traders, not just amassing casual accounts.
Rosenblatt echoed that enthusiasm, pointing to rapid growth in prediction markets, crypto, premium subscriptions and international users as reinforcing the platform's engagement-driven growth story.
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