Clear Street is sticking with its call on Strategy. Analyst Brian Dobson reaffirmed a Buy rating on the company and raised his price target to $211, up from $201.
The timing is deliberate. The note lands days before Strategy reports earnings on October 29, 2026, and it argues the Bitcoin treasury company has spent recent months repairing its balance sheet.
What Clear Street is seeing
The core of Dobson’s thesis is financial housekeeping. Strategy, the Nasdaq-listed firm formerly known as MicroStrategy and trading under the ticker MSTR, used proceeds from a recent common stock sale for two jobs.
First, it repurchased some of its preferred shares. Second, it added to its US dollar reserves.
That combination matters because preferred stock carries dividend obligations. Every preferred share Strategy buys back is one less share it owes a payout on, which trims a recurring cost the company must cover regardless of what Bitcoin does.
Clear Street also flagged the trading level of STRC, one of Strategy’s preferred share classes. STRC is currently trading close to its $100 par value.
According to the report, that positions Strategy to potentially resume preferred stock issuance. The goal would be supporting growth in Bitcoin held per share, the metric the company has long used to measure its own performance.
The dilution problem it is trying to fix
In the preceding quarter, Strategy faced dilution risk because its common stock issuance outpaced its Bitcoin purchases.
Clear Street’s view is that the recent buybacks have mitigated some of the preferred dividend burden. Restarting preferred issuance at near-par prices would give Strategy a funding channel that does not lean as heavily on common stock.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin buying has continued. Strategy recently purchased 267 BTC and has acquired Bitcoin for five consecutive weeks, according to the note.
How the market reacted
MSTR shares rose after the note circulated, trading in a range of $144 to $146. That works out to an intraday gain of 5-7%.
Clear Street’s $211 target sits well above that trading range.
Why the preferred story is the real headline
When STRC drifted below par, the tool became harder to use, and the company leaned more on common equity, which fed into the dilution issue Clear Street highlighted.
With STRC back near $100, the preferred channel is potentially open again. That is why Dobson frames the balance sheet repair and the STRC price as connected pieces of the same thesis.
What this means for investors
The October 29 earnings release is the obvious next test. Investors will likely want detail on how many preferred shares were repurchased, how large the US dollar reserve has become, and whether management signals a return to preferred issuance.
There are clear risks on the other side. A sharp drop in Bitcoin could push STRC back below par, closing the issuance window Clear Street is counting on and reviving dilution concerns.
Index rebalancing is another wildcard. The stock’s inclusion or weighting changes can drive flows that have little to do with the underlying business.
The key question heading into earnings is whether Strategy can return to growing Bitcoin per share without leaning so hard on common stock. Clear Street is betting the answer is yes, and the STRC trading level is the clearest early indicator to watch.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.