J.P. Morgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang issued a more bullish view on Chime Financial Inc.’s stock than a number of his peers, citing the banking services company’s ability to attract, and make money off, people earning up to $100,000 a year. “Chime cracked the code of scaling financial services as a non-bank by earning the trust of everyday Americans with a ‘low cost, no cost’ banking model that improves the financial lives of those historically burdened by fees and minimum balance requirements,” Huang wrote in a research note. Huang initiated coverage of Chime’s stock with an overweight rating and a $40-per-share price target, implying about 25% upside from current levels. The company has built the largest direct deposit base of any U.S. financial-technology company while ranking sixth as a debit-card issuer, with greater than 20% purchase volume and member growth in 2024, Huang said. “We see attractive earnings power potential as Chime grows its consumer platform of 8.6 million members … affording the firm unique insights to extend compelling low-fee liquidity/lending products, which in turn drives increased loyalty and spending,” he wrote. Looking ahead, the company is on track to speed up the release of newer services such as liquidity products that give more members earlier access to more of their pay, he said. There are 13 analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover Chime; eight are bullish, four are neutral and one is bearish.