Coinbase's revenue of $1.31 billion fell short of Wall Street's forecasts
The shares of Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) are plunging this morning, last seen down 10.1% to trade at $321.15, after the company reported lower-than-expected third-quarter revenue. The cryptocurrency exchange turned in revenue of $1.31 billion against Wall Street's estimates of $1.57 billion, while its earnings of $1.62 per share were in line with forecasts. Coinbase, which is tied closely to Bitcoin (BTC), saw its monthly transacting users fall from the prior period, with total trading volume falling to $327 billion from $462 billion from the quarter before.
Despite the negative price action following the event, analysts were quick to dish out bull notes. In fact, no fewer than five brokerages hiked their price target on Coinbase stock, with Rosenblatt Securities raising its its price target all the way up to $455 from $420. That's well above the current consensus 12-month price target of $402.85, which is a 24.7% premium to last night's close.
Drilling down today's options activity, there's ample amount of speculation taking place on both sides of the tape. In the first half hour of trading, 38,000 calls and 14,000 puts have exchanged hands, which is four times the intraday average. Most popular is the weekly 11/12 400-strike call, while new positions are being opened at the 350-strike call from the same series.
On the charts, COIN is coming off a rally to its highest level since its first day as a publicly traded company, when it surged to $429.54 back in April. The stock lost steam just short of the $370 region yesterday, and today's drop has it back below the formerly supportive 10-day moving average for the first time in over a month. Nevertheless, COIN sports a 16.8% six-month lead.