BTIG Initiates Coinbase Coverage With $500 Price Target

The brokerage firm BTIG rated Coinbase (COIN) shares a “buy” with a $500 price target in a research report on Thursday.

BTIG calls COIN the “gold standard among digital asset exchanges” and says the company is poised for sustained growth as the crypto ecosystem expands.

COIN had a volatile first day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange. The stock opened around $318 and briefly broke above $400 before declining later in the session and closing at $328. The stock was up about 3% to $338 as U.S. stock markets opened early Thursday.

• BTIG’s $500 price target for COIN is based on several base-case assumptions, including 16% growth in trading volumes for the next five years, subscription and services revenue growth of 30% over the same period, and continued retail adoption of cryptocurrencies on COIN’s platform.
• The firm sees an upside scenario of accelerated revenue growth “beyond our current expectations as its crypto exchange’s market-share gains increase sharply and its other business lines ramp up more quickly than we are anticipating.”
• However, Coinbase could also see revenue growth stall due to “either declining demand for cryptocurrency due to a sharp drop in the price of bitcoin and other coins.”
• The report also notes a strong balance sheet for Coinbase, which could help the company “withstand downturns in crypto markets or fee compression arising from increased competition.”