Cathie Wood Just Keeps Buying Up This 1 New IPO Stock

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has been steadily increasing its stake in Bullish (BLSH) since the crypto exchange’s IPO, signaling confidence in the company despite a volatile post-market debut. On debut, Ark acquired about 2.53 million shares of Bullish, roughly worth $172 million across ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF).

Again, the veteran investor recently purchased over 160,000 shares of Bullish worth $8.3 million ahead of the company’s first earnings report since going public. The purchase was split between ARKK and ARKW. With these additions, Ark’s total Bullish stake now exceeds $129 million across its ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF ETFs.

Bullish operates in the cryptocurrency and digital assets space, founded in 2020 and headquartered in George Town, Cayman Islands. It operates a regulated crypto-exchange platform and is also the parent company of the leading digital media and data business, CoinDesk. Bullish currently has a market cap of about $7.9 billion.

Since its IPO on Aug. 13, 2025, Bullish has seen a wild ride. BLSH stock was priced at $37 at IPO, opened trading at about $90, and reached intraday highs near $118 before closing its first day much lower at around $68.

In the days after its debut, the shares dropped significantly from their peak but still remained well above the IPO price. Overall, the performance has been highly volatile, with strong initial gains followed by rapid pullbacks. As the share price has slid from its highs and drifted lower, Ark has used the opportunity to buy the dip.

Meanwhile, BLSH stock jumped 5.8% yesterday and an even higher 20.7% today after the company reported strong Q2 results, issued bullish guidance for Q3, and won a New York “BitLicense,” allowing it to offer spot-trading and custody services in that state.

The stock is currently trading at a lofty valuation of 317.74 times forward earnings.

Bullish released its second-quarter 2025 earnings on Sept. 17 for the period ended June 30. Compared to Q2 2024, digital asset sales climbed to $58.6 billion from $49.6 billion, and the company swung to a net profit of $108.3 million, or $0.93 per share, versus a net loss of $116.4 million, or $1.03 per share, a year earlier.

Meanwhile, adjusted revenue fell slightly year-over-year (YoY) from about $60.7 million to $57 million, and adjusted transaction revenue also dropped to $24.1 million compared to $34.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $8.1 million, compared to $14.7 million in the prior-year quarter.

Also, trading activity increased, with total trading volume rising to $179.6 billion from $133 billion.

Looking ahead, Bullish provided guidance for Q3 2025 that reflects confidence in improving performance. The company expects adjusted revenue in the range of $69 million to $76 million, with adjusted transaction revenue between $25.5 million and $28 million and subscription, services & other (SS&O) revenue of $43.5 million to $48 million.

They also projected adjusted EBITDA between $25 million and $28 million and adjusted net income of $12 million to $17 million.

Analysts anticipate EPS to decline 100% YoY to $0.16 in fiscal 2025 before improving by 312.5% to reach $0.66 in fiscal 2026.

Citigroup initiated coverage on Bullish with a “Buy” rating and a $66 price target on Sept. 8, highlighting the company’s strong positioning to benefit from increasing institutional investment in crypto assets.

Also, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on Bullish, but with a “Hold” rating and a $51 price target. Deutsche Bank recommends investors wait for “a better entry point before starting a position in the shares” due to potential near-term variability in trading results ahead of the company’s U.S. expansion efforts.

BLSH stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating overall. Out of 12 analysts covering the crypto stock, four recommend a “Strong Buy,” while eight analysts are staying cautious with a “Hold” rating.

BLSH has already well surpassed the average analyst price target of $56. Nevertheless, the Street-high target price of $68 suggests there could still be a little gas left in the tank for this stock’s rise.

On the date of publication, Subhasree Kar did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com