Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) is on course to materially beat first-quarter consensus estimates after the price of Bitcoin has soared in recent months, Bank of America analysts have predicted.
Citing CoinGecko data, Bank of America highlighted a 100% quarterly increase in transaction volumes, stretching to 107% year over year.
This comes after Bitcoin has climbed by almost 60% so far this year, following the introduction of spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in January.
Anticipation has also built over a halving event in April, after which the reward for mining Bitcoin will be slashed, effectively cutting supply in half.
The cryptocurrency exchange operator’s share price target was raised as a result, from US$92 to US$110, while earnings and revenue forecasts were hiked.
Coinbase’s full-year net revenue forecast was lifted by Bank of America to US$4.81 billion from US$3.89 billion previously, while adjusted pre-tax earnings are now expected to hit US$1.96 billion, against US$1.28 billion beforehand.
However, this remained well below the US$250 mark the shares were trading at on Wednesday.
Analysts also did not budge from an ‘underperform' rating, citing “crypto market unpredictability” and a lack of “revenue diversification”.
They also highlighted concerns over an ongoing US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit centring around whether Coinbase had been illegally acting as a securities exchange.
Shares climbed 2.9%.