Metropolitan Bank stock price forecast: Will MCB shares spring a surprise despite crypto winter?
Shares in cryptocurrency-friendly US regional bank Metropolitan Bank Holding Corporation (MCB) have shed close to 40% so far this year, with the decline accelerating since prices crashed in mid-May and more recently with crypto platform Voyager Digital filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
MCB’s shares have lost 5% in the past month, raising questions among investors about the bank’s involvement in volatile cryptocurrency markets.
What does Metropolitan Bank do and how is it exposed to the crypto markets? And what’s next for its stock?
In this article, we take a look at the bank as a potential investment and the latest Metropolitan Bank share price predictions from analysts.
Metropolitan expands from regional banking to crypto support
Metropolitan Bank Holding Corporation is the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a regional financial services provider that operates in the New York City metropolitan area. The bank offers a range of business, commercial, and retail products and services to businesses, public organisations, and high net worth individuals.
The bank was founded in New York City in 1999 “with the goal of helping clients build and sustain generational wealth,” according to its quarterly investor presentation. Metropolitan’s business model is focused on “providing high-touch service with industry expertise and delivering customised solutions for our clients” and its commercial client business “is relationship driven and predominantly located in the highly attractive New York metro area”.
The bank’s Global Payments group provides banking-as-a-service (BaaS) to high growth domestic and international fintech, money services and payments businesses, including cryptocurrency platforms like Voyager. Metropolitan serves as an issuing bank for third-party debit cards and provides other financial services such as cash settlement and custodian deposits.
Metropolitan was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2017 with a $125m initial public offering (IPO) at $35 a share. It raised $172.5m in September 2021 in a follow-on offering of 2.3 million shares at $75 a share. The bank has increased its assets at a compound annual growth rate of 30% since the IPO and held $6.6bn in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The stock has outperformed the KBW Regional Bank Index, which is the stock market benchmark for small regional and community banks.
Metropolitan Bank released its first-quarter earnings on 21 April, reporting a 38.6% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its revenues to $54.1m and a 57% increase in net income to $19m. The bank’s full-year revenues climbed to $180.7m in 2021, up from $63.4m in 2017. The bank will report its results for the second quarter on 21 July.
The bank reported a sharp increase in its revenue from cryptocurrency reloadable cards (called General Purpose Reloadable, or GPR, cards) after Voyager Digital launched its cryptocurrency-based debit Mastercard in November 2021, issued by MCB.
Voyager has been an MCB client since 2019, with MCB providing the platform with a depository for client funds and access to bank and wire payment networks.
Metropolitan’s deposits from crypto GPR cards and exchanges climbed to $1.1bn in the fourth quarter of 2021 from $718m in the third quarter, and rose above $1.2bn in the first quarter of this year. But total deposits from its digital currency customers dropped to $1.1bn in the first quarter of 2022 after soaring to $1.5bn in the fourth quarter of 2021 from $778m in the third quarter. The bank's total deposits slipped from $6.4bn in the fourth quarter to $5.9bn in the first quarter.
Michael P. Regan wrote in a Bloomberg Crypto newsletter on 7 July:
MCB share price halts upward trend in 2022
Metropolitan Bank’s historical share price saw a positive return in the first few months after its IPO in 2017. The stock traded up from its $35 launch to reach $53.61 by June 2018, but then fell to touch the $30 level by the end of the year on concerns about slowing economic growth.
The MCB stock price then turned higher in 2019 and trended up to reach $49.40 in February 2020. Metropolitan was not immune to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on share prices, and crashed to $20.38 on 20 March 2020. The share price began a slow recovery in May, reaching $36.27 per share by the end of 2020.
The share price accelerated its recovery in 2021 as it benefited from bullish sentiment on its digital currency business. The stock reached $106.53 by the end of December, ahead of its all-time intraday high of $115.78 hit in January 2022.
But a sell-off in cryptocurrency markets in January, which gave way to a bearish trend that accelerated with the collapse of the Terra crypto tokens in May, has weighed on the MCB share price this year. The stock has been trading below the $100 level since April, plunging to $73.80 on 12 May. The stock fell below the $70 level with a further sell-off in cryptocurrencies in mid-June and has traded down towards $64 in response to Voyager’s bankruptcy restructuring announcement on 6 July.
What’s next for the MCB stock price? Can it reverse course and will developments on the cryptocurrency markets continue to affect the share price?
Below, we look at the Metropolitan Bank share price forecast round-up.
Metropolitan Bank share price forecast: Is the stock a buy, hold, or sell?
There are few Wall Street analysts that have issued a Metropolitan Bank stock forecast, based on data compiled by MarketBeat. But on 1 July, analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase lowered their MCB stock forecast to $95 from $155, with an overweight rating. That still represents an upside of 48% from the current $64 level.
Algorithm-based stock forecasting service Wallet Investor was bullish in its Metropolitan Bank share price forecast for 2022 at the time of writing (11 July), projecting that the stock could trade at $91.68 by the end of the year. The website’s long-term outlook was also bullish, predicting that the stock could trade at $132.82 by the end of 2023 and $174.33 by the end of 2024. Wallet Investor’s Metropolitan Bank share price forecast for 2025 had the stock trading up to $215.35 by the end of the year.
When considering any Metropolitan Bank share price forecast, it’s important to keep in mind that stock market volatility makes it difficult to make accurate share price predictions. As such, analysts and algorithm-based forecasters can and do get their predictions wrong.
We recommend that you always do your own research before investing in any stock. Look at the latest MCB stock forecast, market trends, news, technical and fundamental analysis, and expert opinion before making any investment decision. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns.And never invest money that you cannot afford to lose.
FAQs
Is Metropolitan Bank a good stock to buy?
The potential for the Metropolitan Bank share price will depend on the bank’s performance as well as broader market trends, among other factors. It is important to do your own research on a stock to determine if MCB is a good fit for your investment portfolio. Whether it is a suitable stock investment for you depends on your risk tolerance and how much you intend to invest. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns.And never invest money that you cannot afford to lose.
Will the Metropolitan Bank share price go up or down?
Whether the MCB share price rises or falls will depend on the bank’s financial performance, as well as the influence of cryptocurrency markets given the share of digital currency firms in its customer base. The share price will also be influenced by overall stock market sentiment and volatility, among other factors.
When checking online forecasts, it’s important to keep in mind that analysts can get their predictions wrong. You should do your own research to take an informed view of the share price. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns. And never invest what you cannot afford to lose.
Should I invest in Metropolitan Bank stock?
It is important to do your own research on a stock to determine if it is a good fit for your investment portfolio. Whether you should invest in MCB is a personal decision only you can make based on your personal circumstances and investment portfolio. Keep in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns. And never invest what you cannot afford to lose.
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