Increased customers and revenue

Plus500 reported a 64% increase in revenue compared to the last quarter of 2022, creating nearly 2.$0.8 billion in revenue, compared to just 1 in the fourth quarter of 2022..$263.7 billion。

During this period, the number of new customers increased by 10.0% to 28,201, giving the broker a total of just over 137,000 active clients。

In addition to the unexpected increase in the number of customers, Plus500's revenue also increased, with ARPU (average revenue per user) increasing by 57% to $1,517 per customer.。In contrast, the average acquisition cost per customer was $1,381, down 6.0%。

Commenting on the results report, Plus 500 CEO David Zruia said: "Plus500 again performed strongly in the first quarter of 2023, again driven by a unique proprietary technology stack proposition, which attracts and retains higher-value customers in the long run."

He added: "We face a range of extremely advantageous strategic growth opportunities, particularly in the US futures market, to be able to accelerate our growth as a diversified global multi-asset fintech group.。"

Plus500 Outlook

The company's management believes that its full-year 2023 results will be in line with market expectations and that its cash balance at the end of March exceeded $95 million, meaning that this strong financial performance can support continued investment to continue the business.。

These investments include a new big data tool called "+ Insights," which aims to provide customers with information about real-time and historical markets and customer trends.。

There are also Plus500 Futures and Trade Sniper, both proprietary trading platforms designed for exchange-traded futures markets.。

Analysts remain bullish

Writing on Plus500 this morning, the firm's corporate broker Investment Bank Liberum maintains its buy recommendation for the stock with a price target of 31.00 pounds。

By comparison, the current price at the time of writing is 17.£14, basically unchanged for the day。

Plus500 shares have fallen 5 percent so far this year.50%。

However, Liberum believes that with 31.At £00, Plus500 is trading at just 12 times 2024 EPS。

Plus500 vs. IG and CMC

Although this is much higher than the current 6.4x P / E but below that of IG Group and CMC Markets。

The bank stressed that in the decade since the IPO, Plus500 has accumulated a net profit of $2.3 billion, of which $1.7 billion was returned to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.。

This equates to an average allocation rate of 74%, according to Liberum analysts。Using a slightly lower 70% benchmark, the bank forecast a 17% shareholder return on Plus500 shares over the next two years.。

Plus500 may have hidden value, but whether it can achieve this may depend on how effectively the company diversifies its revenue stream from over-the-counter margin trading to other areas, such as futures trading and the provision of B2B trading technology and third-party infrastructure.。