Coinbase (COIN) stock rallied to 52-week highs on Wednesday as Bernstein analysts dubbed the cryptocurrency platform a “one-stop Amazon” of crypto services.
Shares gained more than 3%, just a stone’s throw way from their record close of $357.39 on Nov. 9, 2021.
“Coinbase is the most misunderstood company in our Crypto coverage universe,” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani and his team wrote on Wednesday morning, raising their price target on the stock to $510 from $310 with an Outperform rating.
As the only cryptocurrency company in the S&P 500 (^GSPC), Coinbase dominates US crypto trading, operates the largest stablecoin business among exchanges, and serves as custodian for the underlying assets of the majority of US spot bitcoin ETFs, Bernstein analysts said.
“COIN has also added several fast-growing businesses such as institutional custody, Base blockchain services and Prime lending desk .. .thus, emerging as the ‘Amazon of crypto financial services’, offering crypto financial services beyond simple trading,” wrote Chhugani.
The analysts noted the bear thesis on Coinbase has not played out.
“Coinbase’s market share has been persistent despite new competition,” wrote Chhugani. “Traditional brokerage competition is several months away from launch, which is an eternity on crypto timelines.”
Even Coinbase leadership has highlighted the company’s breadth.
“Under appreciated: @coinbase is powering crypto integrations for ~200 banks, brokerages, fintechs, and payment companies,” wrote co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong on X Wednesday morning.
Coinbase stock has surged more than 40% since the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a bill that would establish a federal framework for stablecoins, digital tokens backed by assets such as the US dollar.
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On Tuesday, Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, said investors may still have opportunities to get into the trade if they missed the recent spike.
“I still think there’s additional upside to Coinbase here, despite the pretty vicious rally we’ve seen,” he said.
Other crypto-related stocks have also rallied this year amid growing institutional adoption of bitcoin (BTC-USD) and momentum around stablecoin regulation.
Circle (CRCL), the issuer of USDC stablecoins, has risen more than 600% since its blockbuster IPO on June 5.
Meanwhile, platform Robinhood (HOOD) is up 126% year to date, while Strategy (MSTR), which owns the largest amount of bitcoin of any public company, is up 32% during the same period.
