Coinbase Shares Jump 18% After Brian Armstrong Says Exchange Had ‘Turning Point’ First Quarter

Coinbase (COIN) shares surged by more than 18% on Friday after the company’s chief executive, Brian Armstrong, said in an earnings call on Thursday that the exchange had a “turning point” quarter to kick off 2023.

Armstrong notes that the company experienced 22% net revenue growth in 2023 Q1 compared to the final quarter of last year, according to a transcript of the call.

Coinbase also witnessed a 24% decrease in operating expenses quarter-over-quarter.

Says the CEO,

“Q1 marked a real turning point in our financial performance. Revenue was up and costs were down.”

Armstrong also says Coinbase experienced positive adjusted EBITDA in 2023 Q1. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and it measures net income with all of those factors added back into the mix.

“So just zooming out, crypto, obviously, goes through many up and down cycles, but the best companies in the world, including the most trusted brands like Coinbase, they tend to get stronger in down markets. This is the fourth crypto cycle that Coinbase has been through, and we’ve emerged stronger after each one of them. So I think we’ve built a really resilient business here. We’ve diversified our revenue stream away from trading fees, and we’re in a really strong financial position with positive adjusted EBITDA in Q1.”

COIN is trading at $58.24 at time of writing.

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