Share this article
Coinbase Gets Another Upgrade, This Time at Raymond James, as Bears Capitulate
The brokerage firm lifted its rating on the crypto exchange’s shares to market perform from underperform.
By Will Canny
Updated Mar 12, 2024, 9:05 p.m. Published Mar 12, 2024, 9:03 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
- Coinbase shares upgraded to market perform from underperform at Raymond James.
- The firm cited the positive impact of spot bitcoin ETF flows on crypto valuations.
- Goldman Sachs revised its negative rating on the shares last week.
Investment bank Raymond James is the latest Wall Street firm to revise its negative rating of the shares of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), after surging exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows triggered a rally in the stock and bitcoin pushed to all time highs.
While Raymond James said its long-term bias on Coinbase remained negative, the firm admitted to underestimating the impact that spot ETF inflows would have on the valuations of cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Raymond James upgraded the stock to market perform from underperform. Coinbase shares closed 0.8% higher at $256.14. The changes and commentary were contained in a research report published Tuesday.
Despite the upgrade, the firm maintained a cautious tone.
“We continue to have substantial doubts about the firm’s long term earnings prospects given what we view as an essentially commoditized client offering, a tenuous long-term earnings outlook for cryptocurrency valuations that appears to be largely premised on the Greater Fool Theory rather than inherent value, and meaningful regulatory risk,” analysts led by Patrick O’Shaughnessy wrote.
“We would suggest that the longer this crypto rally persists, the greater the odds that a competitor attacks Coinbase with a disruptive pricing strategy,” the authors wrote.
Until ETF flows taper or reverse, the stock’s positive momentum is likely to persist, the report added.
The Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs last week abandoned its bearish stance on Coinbase shares, upgrading the stock to neutral from sell, citing higher crypto prices and increased retail participation.
Read more: Coinbase Upgraded to Neutral as Goldman Sachs Ends Bearish Stance
More For You
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
Bitcoin's Quantum threat is ‘real but distant,’ says Wall Street analyst as doomsday debate rages on
Wall Street broker Benchmark argued the crypto network has ample time to evolve as quantum risks shift from theory to risk management.
What to know:
- Broker Benchmark said Bitcoin’s main vulnerability lies in exposed public keys, not the protocol itself.
- Coinbase’s new Quantum Advisory Council marks a shift from theoretical concern to institutional response.
- Bitcoin’s architecture is conservative but adaptable, according to Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer, with a long runway for upgrades.
Top Stories
