Finance News
By Maheen Hernandez
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Benchmark just slashed its price target for Coinbase. The firm dropped its target to $267 from $421, a pretty big cut that shows how rough things are getting in crypto land.
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Analyst Mark Palmer made the call but kept his buy rating intact. He's betting Coinbase can weather the storm even as digital assets keep getting hammered by wild swings and…
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Market conditions basically stink right now.
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Crypto prices have been all over the map, scaring off retail investors and institutional players alike.
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Coinbase shares were trading around $230 as of February 14, way down from previous highs. That's a brutal drop that shows how much confidence has evaporated.
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And the company's latest earnings didn't help matters much.
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Coinbase reported declining trading volumes in its most recent quarter, confirming what analysts already suspected.
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Palmer still sees reasons for optimism though. He's watching Coinbase's efforts to expand beyond basic exchange services.
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Regulatory uncertainty keeps hanging over everything too. Nobody really knows what new rules might come down the pipeline or how they'll affect crypto companies like Coinbase.
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Palmer didn't specify exactly when he expects conditions to improve. He basically said investors need to wait and see how Coinbase handles the current mess.
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Other Wall Street firms have been cutting their crypto stock targets too. Benchmark isn't alone in reassessing what these companies are worth in today's market.
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Coinbase hasn't said anything publicly about Palmer's new target. The company tends to stay quiet about analyst calls unless they're way off base.
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The timing of Palmer's cut is pretty telling. It came right after Coinbase's earnings report, which gave analysts fresh data to work with.
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User engagement has been another concern. Fewer people are opening new Coinbase accounts, and existing users aren't trading as much.
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Palmer thinks successful execution of Coinbase's strategic initiatives could lead to a higher valuation down the road. But that's a big if.
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