-
Bitcoin’s
price
may
soar
this
month
and
so,
too,
might
the
shares
of
MicroStrategy,
which
owns
billions
of
dollars
worth
of
BTC,
a
TD
Cowen
analyst
said. -
MicroStrategy
is
poised
to
be
“meaningfully
higher”
at
the
end
of
the
year,
Lance
Vitanza
said.
Bitcoin
(BTC)
has
significant
upside
potential
this
month
thanks
to
two
big
catalysts
and
Michael
Saylor’s
MicroStrategy
(MSTR)
stock
could
surge,
too,
on
its
way
toward
getting
“meaningfully
higher”
by
the
end
of
the
year,
TD
Cowen
analyst
Lance
Vitanza
said
in
a
note
Monday.
Last
week,
MicroStrategy
reported
a
net
operating
loss
of
$53.1
million
for
the
first
quarter
of
2024
after
taking
a
digital
asset
impairment
charge
of
$191.6
million.
But
the
company
hasn’t
adopted
a
new
digital
asset
fair
value
accounting
standard
that
would’ve
given
it
a
sizable
profit
from
bitcoin’s
rally
at
the
beginning
of
the
year.
Vitanza,
who
attended
MicroStrategy’s
World
2024
user
forum
in
Las
Vegas
last
week,
however,
said
customers
had
significant
positive
feedback
regarding
the
firm’s
legacy
software
business,
founded
long
before
Saylor
pushed
the
company
to
purchase
billions
of
dollars
of
bitcoin.
“This
is
causing
us
to
rethink
the
potential
upside
around
the
operating
business,”
he
wrote.
The
company’s
stock,
which
is
up
89%
year-to-date,
could
also
see
meaningful
upside
due
to
two
main
catalysts
that
could
drive
up
the
price
of
bitcoin.
May
15
marks
the
deadline
for
institutional
investment
managers
to
file
form
13-F
with
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission.
If
more
firms
are
shown
to
have
purchased
the
newly
approved
spot
bitcoin
exchange-traded
funds
during
the
first
quarter,
this
will
show
bitcoin
has
gained
further
institutional
acceptance,
the
analyst
said.
Vitanza
said
another
event
that
could
be
positive
for
bitcoin
and,
thus,
MicroStrategy,
will
be
the
SEC’s
likely
rejection
of
an
ether
ETF,
which
many
in
the
industry
are
girding
for.
“This
is
significant
because
while
Ethereum’s
fate
may
remain
up
in
the
air
until
2025
or
longer,
we
believe
there’s
a
substantial
amount
of
capital
waiting
for
a
digital
winner
to
be
declared;
to
the
extent
Bitcoin
proves
to
be
that
winner,
the
incremental
demand
would
likely
be
felt
even
more
acutely
given
the
recent
bitcoin
halving,”
Vitanza
said.
Bitcoin
is
up
43%
since
the
start
of
the
year
and
reached
a
fresh
all-time
high
above
$73,000
in
March,
according
to
CoinDesk
data.
It
is
currently
trading
at
$63,000.