Atlantic Equities upgraded COIN to "overweight"
The shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) are 4.2% higher at $59.35 in premarket trading, after Atlantic Equities upgraded the stock to "overweight" from neutral." The firm maintained its price target of $70 -- a 23% upside to Friday's close -- calling it the "best expression of crypto" and saying COIN could provide "attractive returns" in the long-term.
Fresh off a marginal weekly win, today's positive price action could help the equity add to its nearly 6% May lead. Coinbase stock already boasts an impressive 60.8% year-to-date gain, with support recently moving in at its 140-day moving average.
Coming into today, there's plenty of room for analysts to join the bullish bandwagon. Of the 23 covering the stock, 15 still rate COIN a "hold" or worse. Meanwhile, the 37.33 million shares sold short represent nearly 21% of the security's total available float.
There's also room for pessimism to unwind. This is per COIN's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.49, which ranks higher than 81% of readings from the past year, suggesting a put-bias among short-term options traders.