Goldman Sachs upgrades CEX rating from "Neutral" to "Buy," raises target price to $303

On January 5th, Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs stated that it holds a “selectively bullish” stance on brokerages and crypto companies in 2026, believing that a resilient retail trading environment and ongoing regulatory progress will support industry growth. “We expect the integration of traditional retail brokerage and crypto trading to continue into 2026, which will further intensify competition and may impact market share and product pricing,” the analyst team led by James Yaro wrote in a report released on Monday. The bank upgraded the rating of the cryptocurrency trading platform CEX from “Neutral” to “Buy” and raised its target stock price from $294 to $303, implying over 30% upside potential. Driven by the cryptocurrency price increase overnight on Sunday, CEX’s stock price rose 4.3% in Monday’s early trading. Yaro and his team maintained “Buy” ratings on Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, and Figure Technology. Yaro pointed out that CEX’s scale and brand advantage are seen as key drivers for its revenue growth surpassing peers and gaining market share. He predicts that by 2027, CEX’s annual revenue compound growth rate will reach 12%, higher than the 8% average among peers, benefiting from its industry-leading customer acquisition costs. The Yaro team also emphasized a series of recent new product launches in brokerage, banking, wealth management, and tokenization, believing these initiatives enhance the company’s competitiveness and position it for scalable growth in structural growth areas such as predictive markets. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs remains optimistic about CEX’s expanding subscription and services business, which currently accounts for about 40% of its total revenue. As cryptocurrency application scenarios extend from trading to broader fields, this business is expected to grow steadily and reduce profit volatility.