JPMorgan Downgrades Silvergate Capital After 4Q Results, Shares Slump

Silvergate Capital (SI) witnessed worse than expected deposit outflows in the fourth quarter and the financial impacts of these outflows will have implications on long-term profitability, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Friday.

JPMorgan downgraded the stock from “overweight” to “neutral” and slashed its price target for the company to $14 from $30.

Shares of Silvergate Capital fell over 10% in premarket trading to $11.21, having already fallen nearly 43% on Thursday following the results.

“While the challenging backdrop for the crypto settlement business was a factor in the worse than expected results being released, we also believe that concerns voiced by short-sellers (on Twitter) likely also contributed to Silvergate’s customers withdrawing deposits from the platform at a greater than anticipated level,” analysts led by Steven Alexopoulos wrote.

JPM says it expects deposit balances to normalize to late 2020 levels, but cautions that they could normalize at much lower levels as crypto customers have moved to a “risk-off” position  and are sitting on the sidelines.

Still, the bank remains “bullish” on blockchain technology, the note added.

Read more: MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital Shares Fall Amid Crypto Bank Silvergate’s Woes