Webull Earnings Call Shows Growth Outpacing Costs

Webull Corporation ((BULL)) has held its Q4 earnings call. Read on for the main highlights of the call.

Webull’s latest earnings call struck an upbeat tone, with management emphasizing strong growth in revenue, customer assets, trading activity and profitability. While elevated marketing costs and early-stage businesses like crypto and B2B added some uncertainty, executives framed these as investments that should fuel further expansion rather than signs of strain.

Record Revenue Underscores Growth Momentum

Webull posted full-year 2025 revenue of $571 million, up 46% year-over-year, underscoring rapid scaling of its platform. Fourth-quarter revenue grew even faster at 50% to $165.2 million, signaling that the company exited the year with accelerating top-line momentum.

Operating Margins and Net Income Strengthen

Profitability improved markedly, with full-year adjusted operating profit reaching $110.3 million and margin rising 14.6 points to 19.3%. In Q4, Webull delivered $21.6 million in adjusted operating profit and $14.6 million in adjusted net income, bringing full-year adjusted net income to a solid $84 million.

Customer Assets and Deposits Surge

Customer assets under custody climbed to $24.6 billion, an 81% jump that includes about $1 billion from the Webull Pay acquisition. Net deposit growth was particularly striking, with $3.9 billion added in Q4 alone, up 225% year-over-year and taking full-year net deposits to $8.6 billion.

Trading Volumes Soar Across Equities and Options

Trading activity surged as full-year equity notional volume rose 59% to $732 billion and options contracts grew 19% to 550 million. In Q4, equity notional reached $239 billion, up 87% from a year earlier, while options volume hit 154 million contracts, up 38% and still increasing sequentially.

User Base Expands and Stays Highly Engaged

Webull’s audience continued to grow, with registered users rising 15% to 26.8 million and funded accounts increasing 8% to 5.03 million. Engagement quality remained high, as management highlighted quarterly retention around 97%, suggesting sticky relationships with active traders.

Premium Subscriptions Gain Traction

The company’s subscription push exceeded expectations, with Webull Premium ending the year at 102,000 subscribers. These higher-value users now account for about 30% of assets under management and 60% of margin debit balances, supporting a more recurring and profitable revenue mix.

AI Assistant Vega Drives Early Adoption

Webull’s new AI assistant, Vega, showed rapid adoption despite launching late in the year, already serving about 1.2 million global users each week. Roughly 10% of weekly active users have tried Vega, which has handled over 10 million questions, highlighting AI’s growing role in client engagement.

Product Expansion and Geographic Diversification

Management emphasized a broadening product set, including the reintroduction of U.S. crypto trading via Webull Pay and new crypto offerings in Australia and Brazil. The firm also launched prediction markets, BlackRock-powered robo portfolios, and secured licensing footholds in the Netherlands and four additional EU markets.

Trading and Interest Revenues Scale Higher

Trading-related revenues climbed 56% year-over-year in Q4 to $112.5 million, reflecting both volume growth and product breadth. Interest-related income reached $43.5 million in the quarter, up 31% year-over-year, supported by a 43% rise in customer margin balances to $689 million.

Track Record of Consistent Profitability

Webull has now delivered five straight quarters of adjusted operating profitability, with each period generating more than $20 million. This consistency gives the company credibility as it invests aggressively while still demonstrating that its model can produce repeatable earnings.

Marketing-Driven Cost Spike Clouds Near Term

Adjusted operating expenses increased 24% for the year to $460.7 million, with Q4 costs up 62% year-over-year to $143.6 million. Management tied the spike largely to a deliberate marketing and branding push, framing it as a catalyst for the recent surge in deposits and user activity.

Volatile Marketing Cadence Adds Sensitivity

Despite the Q4 surge, marketing intensity has declined structurally from about 35% of revenue in 2024 to around 23–24% in 2025. The company cautioned that focusing spend in bursts, as in Q4, introduces some volatility, and flagged that Q1 marketing will be lighter though still opportunistic.

Crypto Still Nascent in Revenue Mix

Crypto trading has been switched back on and licenses have expanded, but management stressed that digital-asset revenue is currently de minimis. They pointed to future product rollouts, potentially from Q2, as the point at which crypto could begin to contribute more meaningfully.

B2B and Meritz Partnership in Early Innings

Webull’s partnership with Meritz in Korea has already processed more than $1 billion in notional trading, yet revenue remains limited so far. Executives characterized the broader B2B push as a multi-quarter ramp, positioning it as a long-term growth pillar rather than an immediate profit driver.

Normalization in Certain Interest Streams

Interest-related income was roughly flat sequentially as gains in some areas were offset by lower fully-paid stock lending revenue. Management attributed this to normalization in borrowing rates for hard-to-borrow securities, signaling that this income line may be less of a tailwind going forward.

Prediction Markets Face Strategic and Regulatory Hurdles

Prediction markets saw rapid adoption, with 162 million contracts traded in the quarter and 81 million in December alone. Even so, management labeled the product non-core and flagged regulatory and political oversight risks, indicating a cautious approach to further expansion.

Debt Reduction Progress but Balance Remains

The company paid down $35 million of a $100 million promissory note in Q4, demonstrating some balance sheet discipline. An outstanding balance still remains, and management plans to time further repayments based on cash flow, growth priorities and overall capital allocation.

Minor Ambiguity Around Certain Metrics

Management acknowledged that some operational disclosures, including parts of the DARTs commentary, contained unclear numerical references. While not materially altering the growth story, this ambiguity slightly clouds the near-term picture of activity for data-focused investors.

Guidance Points to Growth with Cost Discipline

Looking ahead to 2026, Webull plans to double Webull Premium subscribers to roughly 204,000, deepen AI investment, and expand its global and B2B footprints. The company aims to scale revenues faster than expenses, keep marketing lighter after Q4’s surge, add more crypto licenses, drive roughly tenfold growth in Meritz-related B2B flows, and gradually reduce promissory note balances.

Webull’s earnings call painted a picture of a high-growth trading platform balancing aggressive innovation with growing profitability. While heavier marketing and early-stage bets in crypto, B2B and prediction markets add some risk and variability, the core securities business, rising customer assets and expanding subscription base suggest the growth story remains firmly intact.