Wall Street analysts delivered sharply conflicting assessments of Circle Internet Group on Monday, with price targets ranging from $80 to $250 for the stablecoin issuer that has become one of the year's most volatile public debuts.
The divergent views highlight the challenge of valuing Circle, which went public less than a month ago and has seen its stock surge from an initial offering price of $31 to around $180, giving the company a market capitalization exceeding $40 billion.
Bernstein led the optimistic camp, initiating coverage with an "Outperform" rating and $230 price target, describing Circle as a "must-hold" stock for investors seeking exposure to digital dollar networks1. The firm projects the stablecoin market could expand from approximately $225 billion today to $4 trillion over the next decade, with Circle positioned to capture significant market share through its USDC stablecoin1.
Barclays echoed this sentiment with an "Overweight" rating and $215 target, while Needham assigned a "Buy" rating with a $250 target, according to Ainvest2. These analysts cited Circle's regulatory advantages under the newly passed U.S. GENIUS Act, which establishes a framework for stablecoin issuers, and the company's established liquidity network across major crypto exchanges1.
Bernstein forecasts Circle's revenue will grow at a 47% compound annual rate from 2024 to 2027, driven by increasing USDC supply and adoption across financial services1.
JPMorgan struck a notably different tone, initiating coverage with an "Underweight" rating and an $80 price target that implies more than 70% downside from recent trading levels12. The investment bank's analysts, led by Kenneth Worthington, expressed concern about Circle's current market capitalization and potential competition from tokenized deposit accounts and new market entrants2.
"Our price target reflects a substantial premium to the IPO price of $31, but also a substantial discount to the current share price of $180," JPMorgan analysts wrote, according to Cointelegraph2.
Circle raised $1.1 billion in its June 5 initial public offering, pricing 34 million shares at $31 each on the New York Stock Exchange12. The stock opened at $69 and has experienced extreme volatility, at one point reaching nearly $300 before settling around current levels34.
The company's USDC stablecoin maintains approximately $61.4 billion in circulation and operates across more than 20 blockchains, positioning it as the second-largest stablecoin globally behind Tether's USDT5.
