MicroStrategy price target raised to $650 from $450 at Benchmark

Benchmark raised the firm’s price target on MicroStrategy (MSTR) to $650 from $450 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The share price has continued the upward surge that began when the U.S. election victory of President-Elect Trump on November 5 sparked optimism about a much more supportive stance toward bitcoin, but the strength of that rally has brought out detractors who have questioned the idea that shares should trade at a premium to the market value of the company’s bitcoin holdings, the analyst tells investors. However, “those who raise such criticisms are giving short shrift to the shareholder value” that MicroStrategy has been creating through its repeated tapping of the capital markets to raise proceeds to fuel the addition of bitcoins to its sizeable holdings, the analyst argues.