Morgan Stanley believes this new exchange play has nearly 70% upside
Morgan Stanley is bullish on financial exchange Miami International Holdings . The investment bank initiated research coverage of Miami International with an outperform rating Monday, alongside a $42 per share price target, implying more than 20% upside from Friday’s $34.95 close. The firm’s bull case, a price target of $60 per share, would amount to more than 70% upside. Morgan Stanley was one of three lead underwriters in Miami International’s August IPO at $23 per share , along with JPMorgan and Piper Sandler. Miami was founded by CEO Thomas Gallagher in 2007 and is headquartered in Princeton, N.J. The stock offers an attractive risk-to-reward skew, Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys said. He also called Miami International a “pure-play options exchange in an attractive marketplace with cyclical & secular tailwinds and proven track record of systematically gaining market share” that trades at a discount to peers. MIAX YTD mountain Miami International Holdings stock in 2025. Morgan Stanley’s bull case depends on an expectation Miami International will deliver better-than-expected growth compared to peers, as well as potential future floor trading. Miami should also be above to unlock “growth levers,” using exclusive access to Bloomberg’s own version of the S & P 500 to offer index options and futures trading, as well as cryptocurrencies. The result could be annual revenue growth of nearly 15%, Cyprys said. “We view MIAX’s skew toward options (~90% of firmwide revenues) as the best way to play an attractive end market vs. the more diversified peers, i.e., CBOE, NDAQ, ICE where options revenues are a less meaningful contributor to firmwide revenues,” the analyst said. “MIAX has a proven track record of gaining market share, as evident in 960bps market share gains since 2016 to 16.7% share today, making it a top 4 market share player in multi-list options.” Cyprys’ base case forecasts sustained growth for Miami International in “an expanding market place with market share gains lifting share 160 bps [basis points] to 18.3% in multi-list options.” He forecasts revenue growth of nearly 10% year-over-year in this scenario. The analyst’s bear case is based on slower-than-expected options volume growth that could result in sluggish revenue expansion of some 5.7% year-over-year. Miami shares have soared nearly 60% since its IPO last month.
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