Coinbase stock upgraded ahead of its Q4 earnings

Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) is in focus this morning after a JPMorgan analyst upgraded the crypto stock just hours ahead of its Q4 earnings report.

Surge in BTC a positive for Coinbase stock

Kenneth Worthington expects the Nasdaq-listed firm to see a boost to its earnings power now that institutional capital is flowing into Bitcoin.

The Securities & Exchange Commission of the United States approved the Spot Bitcoin ETFs in January (find out more) – which have contributed materially to pushing BTC well above the $50,000 level. According to the JPM analyst:

Being a bellwether, Bitcoin is dragging other crypto coins up with it as well, he added.

$COIN is still enormously overvalued

Worthington expects higher inflows and a continued increase in crypto prices to help improve activity levels on Coinbase.

Interestingly, though, he still sees the crypto exchange as enormously overvalued. The JPMorgan analyst left his price objective on $COIN unchanged at $80 and told clients today that “we’re still not recommending the stock”.

His price target suggests a more than 50% downside from here. Coinbase Global Inc is expected to lose just 9 cents a share in its about-to-be-reported quarter versus $2.46 per share a year ago.

Note that Coinbase stock has close to quadrupled since its low in May of 2023.