Futu Holdings Ltd. (FUTU) is having a good Thursday. The online brokerage's shares jumped 9.52% in premarket trading to $119.84 after the company reported second-quarter results that blew past expectations.
Let's talk numbers. Futu reported revenue of $918.16 million, comfortably beating the analyst consensus of $775.99 million. That's a 35.6% year-over-year increase, translating to 7.20 billion Hong Kong dollars. Gross profit rose 33.9% to 6.21 billion Hong Kong dollars ($792.5 million), while adjusted net income climbed 40.1% to 3.73 billion Hong Kong dollars ($475 million).
But the real story here is growth. Futu added 252,000 net new funded accounts during the quarter, bringing the total to 3.8 million, up 33.6% year over year. Brokerage accounts hit 6.64 million (up 26.6%), and total users reached 31.3 million (up 15.2%).
International markets are doing heavy lifting. Malaysia led new client additions for the third consecutive quarter, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. And these new clients aren't just signing up and going dormant; they're showing stronger initial monetization.
Now, the headline number: trading volume hit a record 6.42 trillion Hong Kong dollars, up 78.8% year over year. What's driving that? U.S. stock trading volume rose 67.2% sequentially to 5.02 trillion Hong Kong dollars, and the culprit is clear: semiconductor and artificial intelligence stocks. The AI frenzy isn't just a U.S. phenomenon; it's fueling trading activity across the globe. Hong Kong stock volume also grew, up 15.9% sequentially to 1.17 trillion Hong Kong dollars.
Client assets are swelling too. Total client assets climbed 43.6% to 1.40 trillion Hong Kong dollars, with daily average client assets up 55.6% to 1.39 trillion. Margin financing and securities lending balances rose 85.1% year over year and 30.5% sequentially to 95.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, supported by strong Hong Kong IPO activity and higher leverage utilization. Wealth management assets also grew, up 10.4% to 180.2 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Futu's investment banking business is humming along. The company had served 683 IPO distribution and investor relations clients cumulatively, up 32.1% year over year, and provided investment banking services to nearly 60% of Hong Kong's new listings during the quarter.
One more thing: Futu has been buying back its own stock. As of June 30, it had repurchased about 3.8 million American depositary shares for approximately $418 million. That's a nice vote of confidence in the company's own future.
So, what's the takeaway? Futu is riding multiple waves: the AI-driven trading boom, international expansion, and a robust IPO market in Hong Kong. The record trading volume suggests retail investors are active and engaged, and Futu is capturing that activity. With shares up nearly 10% premarket, the market seems to like what it sees.
