Wall Street analysts lowered their price targets on Strategy (MSTR) in quick succession on Wednesday, citing Bitcoin's (BTC) slide rather than any deterioration in the company itself, while keeping their bullish ratings intact.
Citi, BTIG and Canaccord all trimmed their targets on the Michael Saylor-led firm, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, in a sign that the recent drawdown was reshaping how the Street values leveraged proxies for the cryptocurrency.
Citi Makes The Biggest Cut
Citi delivered the steepest cut, lowering its target to $136 from $260 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating. The firm cited Strategy's new capital plan and a Bitcoin base case it revised 27% lower to $81,800, according to the note.
Likewise, BTIG cut its target to $250 from $350 and kept a ‘Buy’ rating. The firm characterized Strategy as leveraged exposure to Bitcoin, saying recent volatility highlighted how a crypto drawdown amplifies the stock's downside, but added that the company could outperform Bitcoin on the way back up as prices recover, helped by a shift toward more active capital management rather than pure accumulation.
Bitcoin Selloff Drives Target Cuts
Canaccord analyst Joseph Vafi lowered his target to $130 from $163 and maintained a Buy rating. Vafi said conditions had grown materially tougher against steady declines in Bitcoin, pointing to Strategy's and questions around servicing its preferred dividends. He said definitive actions announced by the company left its model better positioned to weather the current environment over the medium term.
The cuts left a wide gap between the surviving targets, ranging from $130 to $250, underscoring how differently the firms model the same balance sheet even as they agree that the sell-off is cyclical rather than structural.
was up over 8% in early-morning trading. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around MSTR remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter around it moved to ‘high’ from ‘extremely high’ levels over the past day.