Robinhood competitor etoro preparing for public offering - report

Robinhood ( NASDAQ: HOOD ) competitor etoro is reportedly looking to go public and is targeting a valuation of $5 billion. Were eToro be traded today at the same multiple, it would have a market cap of nearly $6 billion on the basis of last year’s EBITDA. In 2021, etoro has attemped to list itself previously through a SPAC deal but had terminated it amid stock market volitality and plunge in crypto at the time. The deal had also reportedly ran into regulatory problems. The online trading platform has significantly improved its profitability. The firm had reported a core profit of $107 million last year, a strong turnaround from the loss of over $40 million the prior year, according to a Globes report. The rise in profitability could bode well as the market has less tolerance for unprofitable companies. eToro in an email to Seeking Alpha said there are no comments to share. Tel Aviv-based eToro offers stock-market trading similar to that of Robinhood Markets ( HOOD ), and also competes with Coinbase ( COIN ) as a consumer crypto-trading platform. The firm has also had a few regulatory issues, and in September, it agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges with the SEC. The charges said that the company operated an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency in connection with its trading platform that facilitated buying and selling certain crypto assets as securities. The firm had agreed to cease trading activity in almost all crypto assets, and the only assets that U.S. customers can trade on the company’s platform will be Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether. Early in December, etoro had repotedly tapped Goldman Sachs to plan for its U.S. IPO, Bloomberg had reported. In February, CEO Yoni Assia had told CNBC , that they were "definitely eyeing the public markets,” The potential listing plans come at a time when Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) has been scaling the $100K mark boosted by crypto-friendly Donald Trump's win in the presidential elections. More on etoro EToro Vs. Robinhood Stock: Why A Comparison Suggests EToro Could Halve In Value eToro Stands To Capitalize On The Rise Of The Apes eToro Makes Tough U.S. Trade