Several analysts raised their price targets on Coinbase shares after the crypto exchange operator reported a blowout fourth quarter postmarket Thursday. Coinbase handily beat expectations , with performance driven largely by a surge in trading activity during the postelection crypto rally. Earning per share came in at $4.68, more than double the $1.81 Wall Street had expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG. Revenue was $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared with consensus expectations of $1.88 billion. Shares pulled back as much as 7.2% intraday Friday, after rallying 8% ahead of the results, but the Street remains optimistic on the outlook. CEO Brian Armstrong emphasized on the earnings call that it’s “the dawn of a new era” for the crypto industry, signaling an expanded total addressable market (TAM) for Coinbase. “Up to 10% of global GDP could be running on crypto rails by the end of this decade, and Coinbase is going to be the preferred partner to come in and build this for many of the companies out there,” he said. Many on Wall Street echoed that optimism, citing the sea change in the U.S. government’s regulatory approach to crypto that’s more supportive of the industry and that’s likely to allow Coinbase to focus more on future growth and innovation and less on fighting regulatory battles. Here’s what Wall Street had to say: JMP Citizens raises price target to $475 from $400 Analyst Devin Ryan reiterated his market outperform rating on Coinbase, praising the company’s strong fourth quarter, near-term momentum and revenue diversification efforts. Coinbase “is finally being unshackled to reach the potential that we believe management envisioned years ago — which extends well beyond providing access to buying and selling digital assets … The strength in results was broad-based, with elevated transaction activity as industry volumes accelerated post-U.S. election … and we were also encouraged by Subscription & Services revenue of $641M, reaching a record (up over 70% YOY), highlighting ongoing diversification efforts which we anticipate are set to accelerate materially.” Oppenheimer raises price target to $388 from $344 The strong fourth quarter is just the beginning for Coinbase, according to analyst Owen Lau. He kept his outperform rating, highlighting the company’s market share and growth prospects under the Trump administration. “Since December, COIN has taken market share from HOOD … USDC has also taken shares from USDT since MiCA was effective in late December. We believe COIN could enter the prediction markets soon. The next step is S & P 500 inclusion, which could occur March 7 under our best-case scenario … We believe Base, USDC, international expansion, derivatives and Coinbase One will likely take priorities, and will drive utility on payments, tokenization and decentralized Bitcoin-backed loans. Management welcomes competition because it expands the TAM, and considers trust and being crypto native its key moats.” JPMorgan raises price target to $344 from $264 Analyst Kenneth Worthington maintained his neutral rating on Coinbase, but remains optimistic in his 2026 earnings estimates “nearly doubling” after Thursday’s results. “The fourth quarter, and we would argue 2024 overall, was a pivotal and consequential period for the cryptoecosystem— market caps exploded, volumes jumped, new participants entered the market and regulatory confidence completely flipped … Interesting to us is that the volume surge seen post election [has] largely remained intact, suggesting that this level of velocity, activity and revenue generation … could be sustainable.” Barclays raises price target to $328 from $282 Barclays maintained an equal weight rating on Coinbase while lifting its price target. Analyst Benjamin Budish highlighted strong first quarter progress in the first six weeks of the year, and a good outlook. “Unsurprisingly, the tone of the call was quite upbeat, with management outlining broad product and geographic ambitions, although we think the next catalyst — which is likely political/regulatory — may take some time to emerge (however, we also acknowledge the clear change in tone from D.C. and think this is a when, not an if). Given outperformance [Thursday] following HOOD’s print (COIN +8% vs. S & P +1%), we are not very surprised to see shares flat-to-down in aftermarket trading, but given the Q1 progress, updated USDC market cap and a higher rate curve, among others, our estimates are up.” Raymond James, market perform, price target NM Analyst Patrick O’Shaughnessy said the postelection backdrop “created a more favorable regulatory environment for crypto and reawakened animal spirits,” helping the company’s fourth quarter performance. However: “We have little confidence in the sustainability of current revenue and EBITDA momentum for several reasons. For example, more regulatory certainty is going to invite competition from non-crypto-native brokerage platforms which we expect to be a catalyst for price compression. In addition, much of [the] recent volume strength has come from memecoins which has proven to be transitory in the past. As such, we continue to expect eventual degradation of Coinbase’s economics and have a cautious view of the firm’s long-term earnings power.” —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
