CHYM Stock Rises Premarket After $590M Stride Deal: Wall Street Hikes Target Price, Sees ‘Long Runway’ For Growth

• Chime is taking full control by purchasing Stride outright for $590M in cash, with the bank set to operate under the Chime name once regulators sign off, expected sometime in the first half of 2027.
• A cluster of firms including Barclays, Loop Capital, KeyBanc, and UBS moved their price targets higher
• Alongside the deal, Chime raised its near-term financial targets both for the current quarter and the full year

Chime Financial (CHYM) is making a $590 million bet that the fastest way to become a bigger bank is to own one. The fintech company’s agreement to acquire longtime partner Stride Bank has triggered a fresh wave of Wall Street optimism, with Barclays, Keybanc, Morgan Stanley among others raising their price targets, while Loop Capital initiated coverage with a ‘Buy’ rating.

The acquisition gives Chime a national bank charter and greater control over its banking infrastructure. CHYM stock rose 10% in premarket trading, at the time of writing.

Chime Makes $590M Bet

San Francisco-based fintech company Chime said on Tuesday it would buy Stride Bank, N.A. from its existing ownership for $590 million in cash, marking the company’s largest deal since its 2024 IPO. 

Stride, which has served as Chime’s bank partner for more than seven years, will be renamed Chime Bank N.A. and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary once the deal closes in the first half of 2027, subject to approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.

Both companies’ boards have unanimously approved the deal. Morgan Stanley is serving as Chime’s financial advisor; Piper Sandler & Co. is advising Stride.

Chime has emerged as a major challenger to traditional banking heavyweights over the past few years, chipping away at their market share with app-based, low-cost financial services.The Stride deal takes that challenge further, giving Chime a bank charter and more control over its operations as it expands into products and services long dominated by traditional lenders, according to Reuters.

Chime said in its statement that acquiring Stride gives it a faster, more proven route to full ownership of its banking infrastructure than pursuing a new bank charter from scratch.

CEO and Co-founder Chris Britt said the deal builds on the company’s founding mission, noting Chime was built because ‘mainstream America deserved better banking’ and that the acquisition will make its proven model even stronger.

Why Wall Street Likes The Deal 

Barclays raised its price target on the stock to $40 from $33, with analyst Nik Cremo citing the deal’s national bank charter and more than $100 million in expected synergies as key value drivers, according to The Fly.

The upgrade came alongside a fresh ‘Buy’ rating from Loop Capital, which initiated coverage on Chime with a $45 price target. It sees a “long runway” for Chime’s revenue and earnings growth.

KeyBanc on Wednesday raised their price target to $40 from $33, keeping an ‘Overweight’ rating, calling the deal an evolution of Chime’s operating model that shouldn’t surprise investors given prior management commentary, while noting the firm remains constructive on Chime’s commitment to staying asset-light, according to reports from The Fly.

UBS also raised its price target to $31 from $28 on Wednesday, maintaining a ‘Neutral’ rating, with the analyst describing the deal as “a strategically compelling step toward full-stack vertical integration” that brings Chime’s bank charter and infrastructure in-house to cut fees and funding costs.

Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette raised his price target on Chime to $40 from $39 on Wednesday, keeping an ‘Overweight’ rating, saying the Stride deal “makes strategic sense” and should accelerate credit expansion and product growth while improving economics.

Canaccord analyst raised his price target on Chime to $50 from $45 on Wednesday, keeping a ‘Buy’ rating following the company’s quarterly results.

JPMorgan analysts said on Tuesday, right after Chime’s deal was announced, buying an existing bank gives Chime a “faster and more proven path to securing a national charter.”

Evercore ISI analysts called it ‘a really smart move’ that consolidates Chime’s technology stack and should drive growth and cost synergies over time, adding that owning a bank outright should let Chime capture a larger share of customer wallets, grow its depositor base, and reinforce its competitive moat as AI lowers the barriers to building rival products.

Chime Raises Guidance 

Chime raised its Q3 outlook to revenue of $705 million and adjusted EBITDA of $117 million to $120 million, up from a prior range of $105 million to $110 million, according to the company’s Sept. 8 SEC filing.

For full-year 2026, Chime raised its revenue view to $2.76 billion-$2.77 billion and adjusted EBITDA to $481 million-$489 million, up from $465 million-$475 million.

CHYM Stock: Retail Take

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around CHYM remained ‘bullish’ over the past 24 hours.

One Stocktwits user framed the deal as a net negative for Chime’s rival sponsor bank, “The Bancorp Bank ($TBBK), while bullish on Chime itself — posting a short position on $TBBK with a trailing stop near $62, alongside a long position on $CHYM with a trailing stop around $33.65”.

CHYM’s shares are up about 28.4% year-to-date, as of Tuesday’s close.

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