Stablecoin firm Circle wavers as Mizuho joins bear camp

** Shares of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet traded into and out of negative territory on Tues and were last up 0.2% at $207.92 after Mizuho starts coverage at 'underperform'

** Brokerage ascribes PT of $85, or 59% below stock's last close

** Mizuho says in note it's bearish on CRCL as it sees 25--30% potential downside to FY27E consensus rev of $4.5 bln

** Wall Street estimates don't fully account for looming interest rate cuts, and also overstates USD Coin's (USDC) medium-term growth potential, Mizuho says

** It's also worried about rising distribution costs, Mizuho says, as partners like Coinbase "retain the lion's share of USDC economics"

** Mizuho, which wasn't an underwriter for CRCL's IPO, follows a wave of mixed recommendations last week as some analysts pointed to stock's lofty valuation

** Now, of 13 brokerages covering CRCL, recommendation breakdown is 6 "strong buy" or "buy", 5 "hold" and 2 "sell" ratings and median PT is $215, current LSEG data reflects

** CRCL shares have traded as high as $299 (Jun 23) since co debuted on Jun 5 after IPO priced at $31