Robinhood Enters Indonesia Via Buyouts: A Catalyst for APAC Expansion?

Robinhood Markets HOOD has agreed to acquire PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and PT Pedagang Aset Kripto, marking its entry into Indonesia and accelerating its Asia-Pacific (APAC) expansion plan. The company intends to continue serving local brokerage clients and eventually introduce its global brokerage and crypto products, giving Indonesian users access to U.S. equities and digital assets. The deals are subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority, and are expected to close in the first half of 2026.The transactions signal a shift toward international expansion beyond Robinhood’s U.S.-centric base. Indonesia’s large, young, mobile-first population (more than 19 million capital market investors and 17 million crypto traders) and still-developing retail investing market make it an attractive long-run growth opportunity.An acquisition-led approach will speed up market entry by providing regulatory footing, existing licenses, local compliance expertise and a ready customer base. It will also help Robinhood localize faster through established payment rails, partnerships, operations and on-the-ground market knowledge.Indonesia is expected to become a scalable growth engine, with more funded accounts, higher assets under custody and expanding engagement over time. If Robinhood can layer multiple products and build a repeatable playbook, this could also serve as a launchpad for broader APAC expansion.Robinhood is eyeing APAC expansion as it is one of the few regions with enough scale to meaningfully accelerate user growth and product adoption. In the United States, retail brokerage is highly competitive and relatively mature, making incremental customer acquisition costly and difficult to sustain. By contrast, APAC offers a deep pipeline of young, mobile-first consumers who are still in the early stages of building investing habits. That dynamic creates a longer runway for adding funded accounts, increasing engagement and eventually cross-selling additional products as participation in capital markets continues to broaden.What Robinhood’s Peers Are Doing to Stay Competitive?Charles Schwab SCHW and Interactive Brokers IBKR are the two closest peers of Robinhood.In November, Schwab announced a deal to acquire Forge Global Holdings, Inc. for roughly $660 million in cash. This aligns with Schwab’s strategy to offer private market capabilities to retail and advisor clients, leveraging its comprehensive suite of wealth, advisory and investment management solutions, to address the complex needs of investors.Conversely, Interactive Brokers is expanding organically. Last month, continuing with its global expansion efforts, the company announced giving its clients access to the Taipei Exchange, which is an Asian exchange for shares of small and medium-sized enterprises. Eligible Interactive Brokers clients will now be able to trade equities, exchange-traded funds and Taiwan Depositary Receipts from a single platform.HOOD’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimate AnalysisThe above-mentioned buyouts sync with Robinhood's global growth plan. It now serves roughly 27 million users and has seen its shares soar 254.2% in 2025, underlining investor confidence in the company's expansion strategy. Meanwhile, the industry has gained 34.1%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Given the impressive price performance, HOOD shares are currently trading at a massive premium to the industry. The company has a 12-month trailing price-to-tangible book (P/TB) of 15.12X compared with the industry average of 3.10X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Robinhood’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 78.9% and 16.2%, respectively. In the past month, earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been revised upward to $1.95 and $2.27, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research HOOD currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2026Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2026? 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(HOOD): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks