Webull CEO Pins Growth Hopes On AI Tool ‘Vega’ To Revive Growth After Profit Miss Sends Stock Sliding

Webull’s profit miss has made investors jittery, but the CEO is pinning hopes on the company’s AI assistant, Vega, and on diversifying the business to drive the next growth phase.

• Denier said that since launching a few months ago, Vega assists 1.2 million global users each week.
• The company said it recorded an elevated but “disciplined increase” in adjusted operating expenses of $460.7 million, representing an annual increase of 24%.
• In February, the company launched “zero-commission” sports prediction markets through its partnership with Kalshi for major sporting events.

Webull Corp CEO Anthony Denier is betting on its artificial intelligence-driven initiatives, which are still in the nascent stage, to drive growth, even as a quarterly profit miss spooks investors and sends the company’s shares down nearly 4% in overnight trading on Wednesday.

“AI is dramatically changing the investing industry … We're proud to be shaping the future of active, self-directed trading through the integration of AI via Vega, our AI assistant for trading and platform guidance, delivering real-time insights and AI-generated trading ideas,” Denier said during a post-earnings call.

The company’s shares have declined nearly 22% so far this year, mainly due to weakness driven by Bitcoin’s falling prices, even as the online investment platform ventured into other segments, such as corporate bond trading and prediction markets.

Vega: New Growth Driver For Webull?

“Launched at the end of last year, Vega is already integral to our continued growth, providing our users with market data, information, and associated analysis, as well as real-time portfolio monitoring with user-controlled management of positions and risk preferences,” Denier said.

He said that since launching a few months ago, Vega has assisted 1.2 million global users each week, with 10% of weekly active users using the tool to answer over 10 million questions. “AI deployment across our platform also extends within our organization with AI implementation across customer service, R&D, and internal operations,” Denier added.

Webull Expenses Jump As Long-Term Growth In Focus

The company said it recorded an elevated but “disciplined increase” in adjusted operating expenses of $460.7 million, representing an annual increase of 24% as it continues to invest in strategic product offerings and market expansion to support long-term growth.

“Excluding marketing, our cost base remains well controlled. We achieved our highest operating profit margin ex-marketing in the fourth quarter at 45%,” CFO H.C. Wang said.

Wang added that the company expects margins to continue to improve as we further scale and diversify our revenue base. In February, the company launched “zero-commission” sports prediction markets through its partnership with Kalshi for major sporting events.

It also introduced corporate bond trading last year for U.S. customers, allowing investors to buy and sell individual corporate bonds directly on Webull’s desktop and mobile platforms.

How Are Stocktwits Users’ Reacting To BULL?

Retail sentiment on Webull jumped to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘neutral’ a day ago, with message volumes at ‘extremely high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits.

In the last 24 hours, retail message volume on Stocktwits for the stock soared 637%, and over the past month, the ticker saw a 1.6% spike in followers on the platform.

“I am heavy in BULL and plan to stay that way. To me, the whole game is perseverance and patience,” a user on Stocktwits said.

Shares of Webull have declined nearly 48% in the last 12 months.

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