Crypto exchange Coinbase is down 77% YTD: Why is Wall Street still bullish?

Crypto exchange Coinbase is down 77% YTD: Why is Wall Street still bullish?

Monitors display Coinbase signage during the company's initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York.



Coinbase Global Inc. has declined precipitously this year, largely mimicking the drop in Bitcoin prices and taking its market value down to $12.5 billion from a peak of over $75 billion last year. But Wall Street still remains bullish on the stock.

The crypto exchange is down nearly 77% so far this year, trading far below its first-day closing price of $328.28 last April. But analysts still broadly recommend the stock, despite its weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings report. The stock was given a buy rating by 22 analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While five gave it hold ratings, only four recommended selling the stock.

Even a Mizuho Securities analyst with one of the lowest price targets on Coinbase stays hopeful on the firm’s ability to stabilize its share price this month.

“Yet we believe the cost at which this is achieved is too high, and it is unlikely going to be any less costly,” Mizuho’s Dan Dolev wrote in a note Thursday, when he lowered his price target on the stock to $60 from $135. The average price target on Coinbase is