Circle's Valuation Not Stretched, Says Citi, Starting Coverage With Buy Rating

Citi's $243 terms people suggests astir 34% upside from past night's adjacent conscionable supra $181.

Jul 1, 2025, 12:29 p.m.

Circle (CRCL) has the accidental to beryllium a premier facilitator of stablecoin adoption, Wall Street slope Citigroup said successful a probe study Monday assuming sum of the stock.

Despite the stock's outsized rally since going public, Circle's valuation is not stretched, the study said. The stablecoin issuer priced astatine $31 a stock successful its archetypal nationalist offering (IPO), and deed a record high of $299 past week earlier slipping backmost to $181 since.

The bank's analysts initiated sum of the shares with a buy/high hazard standing and a $243 terms target, oregon astir 34% upside from past night's close.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose worth is tied to different asset, specified arsenic the U.S. dollar oregon gold. They play a large relation successful cryptocurrency markets and are besides utilized to transportation wealth internationally.

Circle benefits from "scarcity value, a 'winner takes most' construct, a ample addressable opportunity, legislative momentum" and "significant operating leverage potential," the study said.

The company's "key competitory spot is its neutrality," analysts led by Peter Christiansen wrote, adding that "Circle's defence against the hazard of stablecoin fragmentation - being champion of breed volition beryllium crucial."

Due to the company's weighty operating leverage and debased superior intensity, the stablecoin issuer tin execute ample excess returns fixed the imaginable addressable market, the study added.

Rival Wall Street slope JPMorgan is not arsenic bullish, opening sum of Circle with an underweight standing yesterday, citing the stock's valuation.

Read more: Circle Valuation Is 'Outside Our Comfort Zone,' Initiate astatine Underweight: JPMorgan

Will Canny