StoneX Backs Bullish With a Buy Rating, Betting on Its Equiniti Deal

StoneX Financial has started covering Bullish with a Buy rating and a $42 price target, describing the exchange as a future toll booth for tokenized shares. Shares traded above $22 early Monday, up 2.9%, so the target implies upside of roughly 97%, even though the stock has lost nearly half its value over six months. Analyst Mark Palmer called the pending Equiniti acquisition, expected to close in January, the linchpin of the bullish case.

Why the Equiniti Acquisition Matters for Tokenized Shares

The $4.2 billion deal combines about $1.85 billion in assumed debt with roughly $2.35 billion in Bullish stock. Once finished, Bullish would own a transfer agency serving nearly 3,000 issuers, 15,000 corporate clients and 20 million shareholders. It would act as transfer agent of record for around 30% of the S&P 500 and half of the FTSE 100, which Palmer sees as the point where a share stops being a database entry and becomes a token. Equiniti also handles about $500 billion in annual payments.

Tokenization Market Size and Bullish Revenue

Tokenized equities total about $2.1 billion onchain, compared with $151 trillion in global equity value, and the wider tokenized asset market could reach $9.4 trillion by 2030. Bullish’s second quarter adjusted revenue climbed 62% to $92.6 million, with subscription and services revenue at a record $62.7 million.