Citi has started coverage of Trustpilot, the online consumer reviews platform, with a 'buy' rating and a 375p price target, arguing it stands to gain as AI changes how people shop.
Consumers are increasingly relying on AI-generated recommendations, which makes trusted third-party reviews more important in ranking products and shaping purchases.
According to Citi, Trustpilot accounts for about 45% of review-site citations across the major AI chatbot platforms.
The broker said Trustpilot's scale, network effects and hard-to-copy database of reviews give it a long runway to make more money from a loyal customer base.
North America offers further upside, as Citi believes the company is still underpenetrated there.
Margins underestimated
Citi argued the market is underestimating how much extra profit Trustpilot can squeeze from growing sales.
Consensus forecasts imply a sharp slowdown in the share of additional revenue converted into profit in 2026, despite strong execution.
Citi instead expects 30% of extra revenue to drop through to profit in 2026, with that rate rising over time.
As a result, its 2027 forecast for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is 5% above consensus.
If the robots are doing the shopping, Citi reckons they will still want to read the reviews.
