Bernstein hikes its price target on this bitcoin proxy stock, sees more than 40% upside

MicroStrategy’s position in the bitcoin market may mean more upside for the stock in the months ahead, according to Bernstein. Analyst Gautam Chhugani, who has an outperform rating on the stock, more than doubled his price targetto $600 from $290. That reflects 42.2% upside from Friday’s close. The move comes during an already monster year for the stock, with shares soaring about 568% in 2024 and more than 181% in the past three months. On Friday, shares gained more than 6% as bitcoin rallied toward $100,000 . MSTR YTD mountain MSTR, year-to-date “We believe, Bitcoin is in a structural bull market with conducive regulation and U.S government support, institutional adoption and favorable macro (low rates, inflation risk and record fiscal debt),” the analyst said. “MSTR’s debt is long term, unsecured convertible, implying negligible risk to balance sheet liquidity from Bitcoin volatility.” Bitcoin has surged 131% in 2024. MicroStrategy has been building a sizeable Bitcoin position for a long time, making the stock a proxy for the cryptocurrency. As it stands, the company owns about 1.7% of the world’s Bitcoin supply, Chhugani noted. He expects that figure to grow to 4% by 2033. “MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) Bitcoin treasury model is unprecedented on Wall Street, in our view,” he continued. “A company on an insatiable path to attract billions in global capital to invest in Bitcoin.” Shares rose more than 7% in the premarket on the heels of Chhugani’s move. Analysts are mixed on the stock. LSEG data shows all nine analysts covering it have a buy or strong buy rating. That said, the average target of $326.29 implies more than 22% downside ahead.