Goldman Sachs reaffirms that Robinhood (HOOD.US)'s “buy” rating is optimistic about predicting the market and upgrading AI consultants to enhance competitiveness

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Goldman Sachs participated in the “YES/NO” product launch held by Robinhood (HOOD.US) on December 16, 2025. It is gradually optimistic about the company's competitiveness in predicting the market and the ease of platform transactions. It believes that the launch of the combined contract narrows the gap with traditional online sports betting platforms, and that the Cortex upgrade improves the customer experience. The bank reaffirmed Robinhood's “buy” rating and set a 12-month target price of $167 based on a price-earnings ratio (P/E) of 62.0 times the next 4 quarters (Q5-Q8).

At the conference, Robinhood announced two core plans: 1) predicting multiple new and upcoming enhancements to the market platform; 2) the upgrade plan for self-developed artificial intelligence consultant Robinhood Cortex. The newly released products/features include: exclusive contracts for professional rugby players, pre-set professional rugby package contracts (similar to consecutive win betting), plans to launch customized professional rugby portfolio contracts in January 2026, long-term expansion to multi-market/multi-category portfolio contracts (such as sports+market+weather), and major upgrades to Cortex, which will provide more market dynamic analysis and simplify the transaction execution process.

Goldman Sachs is gradually optimistic about Robinhood's prediction market competitiveness and the ease of trading on the platform. According to the bank, the newly launched portfolio contract is an important step for Robinhood's prediction contract to move closer to traditional online sports betting platforms, significantly improving its competitiveness.

Although there are still doubts about whether various customized portfolio contracts can maintain sufficient liquidity, the bank believes that predicting inter-dealer brokers in the market through acquisitions/joint ventures is a constructive measure to guarantee liquidity. Furthermore, multi-product portfolio contracts are expected to spawn a new type of trading strategy that has not been adopted before. The Cortex upgrade will simplify the customer's transaction and research process, thereby improving the user experience.

The line also explains the details:

Forecast market upgrade: The company has optimized many functions of the prediction market, including providing real-time odds, supporting desktop trading, adding a limit order function, and improving the ease of use of the product. In addition, the company has also added a variety of sports prediction contracts, including player-specific contracts. The bank sees the most critical upgrade: Robinhood introduced a pre-set combination contract for professional football, with a model similar to “winning streak” in online sports betting. In January 2026, the company will launch customized professional football contracts; in the long run, Robinhood plans to launch customized contracts across multiple categories (such as sports+weather).

Robinhood Cortex (AI Consultant): Cortex is Robinhood's self-developed financial advisor AI. The company announced that Cortex's latest upgrade will be launched in the first quarter of 2026. The upgrade includes integrating real-time financial data (covering technical analysis, analyst reports, and personal portfolio data). When a customer initiates a transaction through voice instructions, Cortex will automatically generate a transaction plan, and the customer can confirm execution with one click. Additionally, Cortex can also be linked to prediction markets.

Portfolio Summary: Management announced that it will provide a portfolio summary function through Cortex to provide customers with personalized insights, including comparison of portfolio performance and benchmarks, tips on upcoming relevant events, and a summary of portfolio core drivers.