** Strategy's MSTR.O shares up 0.4% premarket to $370.64 after H.C. Wainwright initiates coverage with a 'buy', saying it views co as one of the most compelling public investments to gain levered upside exposure to Bitcoin BTC=

** Brokerage sets PT at $480, implying 30% upside to stock's last close

** BTC is the best performing asset of the past decade, H.C. Wainwright says, and while it still believes the cryptocurrency could rally to $225,000 later this year, it warns of the potential for another short-term price correction in Q2 given broader macro headwinds

** H.C. Wainwright says it believes Strategy's unique and proven ability to raise equity and debt capital at scale to accumulate additional coins at a faster pace than it has issued shares justifies a "durable and healthy" premium to NAV

** In a filing early Mon, the Tysons Corner-Virginia-based firm, formerly known as MicroStrategy, disclosed it bought 15,355 bitcoins from Apr 21-Apr 27 at avg purchase price of $92,737, for total holdings of 553,555 bitcoins

** Earlier this month, co said it registered $5.9 bln unrealized loss in Q1, as value of its cryptocurrency holdings fell. It is slated to report Q1 results on Thurs, May 1, after the bell

** Now, of 13 brokerages covering MSTR, recommendation breakdown is 3 "strong buy", 9 "buy" and 1 "strong sell" and median PT is $500, LSEG data shows

** MSTR shares had risen past eight sessions and are up 27.5% YTD. Stock closed at $129.30 a year ago

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))