On Thursday, Bernstein, a well-known Wall Street investment bank, officially launched a research rating on Ethereum treasury company SharpLink Gaming (ticker symbol: SBET), giving it an "Outperform" rating and a target price of $24 by the end of 2026, implying that SBET has a 75% upside potential from its current price.
How does Bernstein value SharpLink?
The report states that Bernstein valued SharpLink based on its Ethereum treasury net asset value (NAV), with a 15% premium, citing the company's ability to generate stable long-term returns. Analysts predict that SharpLink, through ETH staking, appreciating ETH purchases or stock buybacks, and other on-chain strategies, is poised to achieve a perpetual return of 3.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next 10 years.
The report positions SharpLink as a "leading Ethereum treasury company," currently holding 860,299 ETH, approximately 0.7% of the total Ethereum supply, with a net asset value of $3.6 billion. The report argues that SharpLink's competitive advantage stems not only from its holdings but also from its institutional background and ecosystem presence. The company has deep integration with the Consensys ecosystem, founded by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, who also serves as SharpLink's chairman. Bernstein specifically highlights SharpLink's partnership with Consensys' Layer 2 network Linea, where SharpLink plans to deploy $200 million worth of ETH, expecting to generate additional revenue through staking, restaking, and liquidity mining.
Therefore, analysts believe that with continued ETH accumulation, stock buybacks, and moderate debt financing, the discount on SharpLink stock is expected to gradually narrow. As the global interest rate environment eases, Bernstein predicts that investors will more actively seek Ethereum-yielding assets, and SharpLink has become a key vehicle for institutional funds to enter the market.
Bernstein reiterates his bullish view on Ethereum.
Regarding the assessment of Ethereum's long-term value, Bernstein criticized the valuation method of "treating ETH as a stack of technology," arguing that it is too narrow and emphasizing that its core function is to ensure the security of the tokenized economy, rather than to pursue revenue maximization.
They view ETH as a network reserve asset, whose value will grow with on-chain economic activity. The report predicts that the total size of Ethereum's native tokenized assets (including Layer 1 and Layer 2 stablecoins) will expand from the current approximately $172 billion to $5 trillion by the end of 2035. Regarding the price of ETH, Bernstein reiterated its long-term forecast: reaching $15,000 in 2030 and $25,000 in 2035.
SharpLink stock performance
According to data from Google Finance, SharpLink's stock price has risen 68% year-to-date, driven by its Ethereum treasury initiative, reaching a market capitalization of approximately $2.58 billion. Furthermore, due to its Ethereum reserve strategy, the stock price has experienced two peaks this year, occurring at the end of May and mid-July, with prices of $79 and $36 respectively.
