Strategy Adds $180 Million in Bitcoin Ahead of Expanding BTC Push

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, acquired 1,895 Bitcoin worth $180 million last week, capping off a $21 billion at-the-money equity offering program unveiled in October, according to a filing on Monday.

The Tysons, Virginia-based firm now owns roughly 555,500 Bitcoin worth $52.4 billion, based on current prices, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Strategy’s latest Bitcoin purchase represented its smallest acquisition of the asset since the first week of January.

Strategy funded its most recent purchase by selling $52 million worth of so-called perpetual “STRK” preferred stock and $128.5 million worth of common shares. Although Strategy can still issue $20.87 billion worth of preferred stock, it said it can no longer sell common stock through the equity offering program that “has been substantially depleted” over the past six months.

Strategy, however, doubled down on its ambitions to buy as much Bitcoin as possible during its first-quarter earnings call last week, unveiling a similar equity offering program, in which the company will sell another $21 billion in common shares. Strategy also plans to issue $21 billion in corporate debt, targeting a total of $84 billion in under three years.

The Bitcoin treasury firm, which also has a software business, meanwhile disclosed a $5.9 billion loss, due to a decrease in the value of its Bitcoin holdings in the first quarter. 

Strategy’s stock price fell 4.6% on Monday to $376 per share, according to Yahoo Finance. Alongside Bitcoin’s recovery to $94,000 from as low as $74,800, Strategy’s shares have surged 29% over the past month.

On Friday, analysts at asset manager Bernstein reiterated an “Outperform” rating for Strategy with a price target of $600 per share, highlighting the firm’s ability to accelerate its Bitcoin acquisition plans, despite headwinds from the latest market correction. 

The analysts also wrote that Strategy continues to serve as a Bitcoin proxy for institutional investors that may not be able to get exposure to the asset through vehicles like exchange-traded funds tracking the asset’s spot price.

“MSTR continues to hyper-scale its Bitcoin acquisition strategy,” Bernstein analysts wrote. “We continue to like MSTR as the most scalable Bitcoin vehicle tapping into large institutional pools unable to access Bitcoin/spot ETFs.”

Benchmark Senior Research Analyst Mark Palmer reiterated a “Buy” rating for Strategy last week, stating his $650 price target for Strategy’s shares was partly based on Strategy’s “ability to accelerate its accumulation of bitcoin.”

“Strategy’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy has continued to grow rapidly,” he wrote, calling the company’s $84 billion capital-raising target “audacious.” 

Edited by James Rubin