Strategy Inc (MSTR): Bitcoin Treasury Giant Faces MSCI Index Risk, S&P ‘B-’ Rating and New STRE Preferred Stock

Published: November 28, 2025

Strategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR) — the company formerly known as MicroStrategy — has become one of the most closely watched intersections of Bitcoin, capital markets and enterprise software.

Over the past month, the stock has dropped more than 40%, as Bitcoin slid over 20% and investors digested the possibility that MSTR could be removed from major equity indices. ^[1] Yet Wall Street coverage remains broadly positive, and the company continues to raise billions in fresh capital, launch new preferred shares, and double down on its role as the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. ^[2]

Here’s a detailed look at what’s happening at Strategy Inc right now, and what’s driving headlines around the name.

From MicroStrategy to Strategy Inc: What the Company Actually Does

Strategy Inc is best described as a Bitcoin treasury and business intelligence company. The firm provides cloud‑native, AI‑powered enterprise analytics software to thousands of customers globally, while running an aggressive balance‑sheet strategy that uses equity and preferred stock to accumulate Bitcoin. ^[3]

Rebrand and legal name change: In August 2025, MicroStrategy announced a legal name change to Strategy Inc, while keeping its well‑known MSTR ticker. The move codified the “Strategy” branding the company had been using in its product and investor messaging. ^[4]
Core software platforms:
- Strategy One – an AI‑driven BI platform that uses natural‑language querying and generative AI to make analytics more accessible to business users. Lotte Department Store in Korea is using Strategy One to power AI‑enhanced CRM analytics, cutting some analyses from hours to under a minute. ^[5]
- Strategy Mosaic – launched in June 2025 as an “AI‑powered universal intelligence layer” that sits across data warehouses and applications, providing a rich semantic layer, governance and AI‑assisted data modeling to connect disparate data sources. ^[6]

At the same time, Strategy has embraced a highly unconventional corporate finance model: it funds large Bitcoin purchases by issuing common equity and multiple series of perpetual preferred stock, turning the company into what some analysts call a leveraged proxy for Bitcoin. ^[7]

Record 2025 Earnings Driven by Fair‑Value Bitcoin Gains

The shift to fair‑value accounting for digital assets has transformed Strategy’s reported financials in 2025.

Q3 2025: $2.8 Billion Profit on Bitcoin Gains

In its third quarter 2025 results, Strategy reported: ^[8]

Operating income: $3.9 billion (vs. a loss of $432.6 million a year earlier)
Net income: $2.8 billion
Diluted EPS: $8.42
Bitcoin holdings (as of Oct. 26, 2025): 640,808 BTC, with a cost basis of about $47.4 billion and a market value near $70.9 billion at ~$110,600 per bitcoin
Bitcoin KPIs year‑to‑date:
- BTC Yield: 26%
- BTC $ Gain: $12.9 billion

These figures reflect unrealized gains from Bitcoin’s rise being recognized directly in the income statement under the new accounting standard (ASU 2023‑08), making Strategy’s earnings extremely sensitive to BTC price movements — a point the company itself explicitly warns about. ^[9]

Q2 2025: “All‑Time Highs” and Massive Capital Raising

In Q2 2025, Strategy’s numbers were even more dramatic: ^[10]

Operating income: about $14.0 billion
Net income: $10.0 billion
Diluted EPS: $32.60
Bitcoin holdings: roughly 597,000–629,000 BTC depending on timing
BTC Yield YTD (as of late July): 25%
BTC $ Gain YTD: $13.2 billion

Management framed these results as ranking “among the most successful quarterly results across the largest public companies in the world,” largely thanks to unrealized gains on digital assets and an aggressive capital markets program that raised nearly $10 billion in Q2 alone. ^[11]

Across Q2 and Q3, Strategy set full‑year 2025 guidance of:

Operating income: ~$34 billion
Net income: ~$24 billion
Diluted EPS: ~$80

All of this assumes year‑end 2025 Bitcoin prices around $150,000 — a scenario that could significantly change if the current drawdown deepens. ^[12]

Building a Bitcoin‑Backed Capital Markets Machine

A defining feature of Strategy’s model is its complex stack of preferred equity products, aimed at different income‑seeking investor segments.

STRK, STRF, STRD, STRC… and Now STRE

By mid‑2025, Strategy had: ^[13]

Launched STRK (8% Series A Perpetual Strike Preferred Stock),
Issued STRF (10% Series A Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock),
Brought STRD (10% Series A Perpetual Stride Preferred Stock) to market via IPO,
And introduced STRC, a variable‑rate Stretch preferred engineered for price stability around €/$100 per share, with a rules‑based framework for adjusting monthly dividends.

In November 2025, Strategy added another layer with STRE, its 10% Series A Perpetual Stream Preferred Stock:

IPO size: 7.75 million shares
Issue price: €80 per share
Stated amount / liquidation preference: €100 per share
Dividend: 10% per year on the stated amount, payable quarterly in cash, with a complex “compounded dividend” mechanism that can ratchet the rate as high as 18% if dividends are deferred. ^[14]
Use of proceeds: general corporate purposes including Bitcoin purchases and working capital. ^[15]

According to the company’s Q2 and Q3 disclosures, at‑the‑market (ATM) programs and preferred stock offerings have already raised close to $20 billion year‑to‑date, with billions more capacity remaining across various preferred ATMs and common stock issuance programs. ^[16]

This perpetual capital engine is central to Strategy’s ambition: steadily convert investor capital into more Bitcoin, while offering different flavors of yield to income‑seeking investors.

S&P’s ‘B‑’ Credit Rating: First for a Bitcoin Treasury Company

On October 27, 2025, S&P Global Ratings assigned Strategy Inc a ‘B‑’ issuer credit rating with a stable outlook — the first time a major agency has rated a company whose core strategy is built around holding Bitcoin as a reserve asset. ^[17]

Coverage summarizing S&P’s view highlights several key points: ^[18]

The rating puts Strategy firmly in speculative (“junk”) territory, signaling high risk but an expectation the company can meet obligations in the near term.
S&P is especially concerned about Strategy’s “long Bitcoin, short dollar” posture: most of its assets are in BTC, while its liabilities (debt and preferred dividends) are denominated in dollars or euros.
Annual preferred dividends are estimated at roughly hundreds of millions of dollars, with additional interest on convertible debt, and the company plans to fund these primarily by issuing more equity and preferred stock rather than selling Bitcoin.
S&P warns that a severe Bitcoin downturn coinciding with future debt maturities could force asset sales at depressed prices or some form of restructuring.

At the same time, analysts note that the rating itself is a milestone: it formalizes Bitcoin‑backed corporate finance within traditional credit frameworks, treating BTC more like collateral akin to real estate or inventory — albeit with far greater volatility. ^[19]

MSCI Index Risk and “TradFi Pushback”

Another major storyline is the risk that MSCI and other index providers may exclude companies whose balance sheets are heavily crypto‑denominated, including Strategy.

A recent article on Simply Wall St cites analysis from JPMorgan and others that MSCI could remove Strategy from key indices as committees review eligibility for companies with large Bitcoin positions. That would force passive index funds to sell, increasing pressure on the stock even if fundamentals remain intact. ^[20]

Yellow.com reported that Strategy has told investors it can withstand: ^[21]

A Bitcoin price crash to $25,000 — more than 60% below its average purchase price —
And potential forced selling of up to $8.8 billion of its stock from index‑tracking funds,
while still maintaining balance‑sheet resilience.

The MSCI debate has also sparked philosophical pushback from the crypto industry:

Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet publicly criticized MSCI’s decision to exclude firms whose balance sheets are more than 50% crypto, explicitly naming Strategy as an example. He framed it as evidence that legacy institutions are trying to suppress crypto’s growing influence, while insisting “the paradigm shift is inevitable.” ^[22]
In response to the index saga, Executive Chairman Michael Saylor reiterated that Strategy is not a trust or holding company, but an operating software business with a sizable Bitcoin treasury. He argued that index classifications won’t deter the firm from using Bitcoin as “productive capital” to build a new kind of digital monetary institution. ^[23]

Whether MSCI pushes ahead — and how large the resulting outflows might be — remains one of the most important overhangs on the stock.

Stock Under Pressure, But Analysts and Institutions Stay Interested

Despite blockbuster earnings, Strategy’s share price has been hit hard in recent weeks:

According to Nasdaq/Zacks, MSTR shares are down about 38.9% year‑to‑date, underperforming the broader finance sector and peers like Coinbase and BlackRock. ^[24]
Insider Monkey notes that the stock has fallen more than 40% over the past month, largely tracking a 20%+ slide in Bitcoin and rising concerns over index exclusion. ^[25]
Another Insider Monkey piece points out that shares are down over 26% since Q3 earnings on October 30, even as Wall Street’s overall stance remains bullish. ^[26]

Yet sentiment is far from universally negative:

TD Cowen’s Lance Vitanza recently reiterated a Buy rating with a $535 price target, arguing that negative views on Strategy are “essentially a negative bias against Bitcoin.” ^[27]
Mizuho’s Dan Dolev also reiterated a Buy, while trimming his target from $586 to $484 to reflect volatility and index‑risk headlines. ^[28]
Korea Investment CORP disclosed that it boosted its stake in Strategy by 43.1% in Q2, bringing its holdings to over 137,000 shares worth roughly $55 million at the time of its SEC filing. ^[29]

In a November 14 CNBC interview referenced by Insider Monkey, Saylor stressed that Bitcoin is a long‑term investment with inherent volatility, and emphasized that Strategy’s leverage is modest and its major debt maturities are still about 4.5 years away. ^[30]

Strategy’s Bitcoin‑First Model: Opportunity and Structural Tension

Analysts and commentators are increasingly focused on the structural trade‑offs embedded in Strategy’s model.

A Zacks‑authored note on Nasdaq highlights that as of October 26, Strategy held 640,808 BTC — more than 3% of the eventual Bitcoin supply — and that unrealized BTC gains of $3.9 billion were the main driver of Q3’s $2.8 billion profit. Year‑to‑date Bitcoin yield stood at 26%, with $12.9 billion in BTC‑related gains. ^[31]
The same report points out that Strategy has raised nearly $20 billion through equity and preferred issuances this year, underscoring its dependence on capital markets to keep growing its Bitcoin stack. ^[32]
CCN’s analysis of the S&P rating underscores the currency mismatch: BTC‑denominated assets vs. cash‑denominated obligations, and the risk that a sharp BTC downturn could coincide with convertible debt coming due. ^[33]
CryptoSlate describes Strategy as having a “bifurcated identity” — simultaneously a software company and a Bitcoin reserve vehicle — and argues that while creditors are relatively well protected by asset coverage, equity holders are more exposed to dilution and earnings swings as the company continues issuing securities to buy more BTC. ^[34]

In short, Strategy has proved that public markets will finance a massive Bitcoin accumulation strategy — but it has yet to prove that long‑term equity returns will justify the dilution and volatility involved.

The Other Side of the Story: Software, AI and Enterprise Analytics

Amid the Bitcoin headlines, Strategy’s software business is easy to overlook but remains strategically important.

Reuters notes that Strategy provides AI‑powered enterprise analytics via its Strategy One platform, delivering visualization, reporting and embedded analytics across industries such as retail, banking, manufacturing and the public sector. ^[35]
Strategy Mosaic, launched in June 2025, aims to act as a universal intelligence layer on top of data warehouses and operational systems, with: ^[36]
- A rich semantic model for consistent metrics and business definitions,
- Universal access via SQL, REST, DAX and Python,
- AI‑assisted data modeling (Mosaic Studio) that auto‑builds relationships and metrics,
- Enterprise‑grade governance and centralized security.
Lotte Department Store’s deployment of Strategy One shows that the AI+BI vision is not just theoretical: generative‑AI‑powered CRM analytics are already being used in production to accelerate decision‑making. ^[37]

Financially, software revenue is still small compared to Bitcoin‑driven gains — Q3 2025 software revenue was about $129 million, up nearly 11% year‑on‑year, with strong growth in subscription services offset by declines in traditional support and services. ^[38]

But strategically, the software footprint gives Strategy a credible operating business to pair with its Bitcoin treasury, reinforcing Saylor’s argument that this is not just a passive holding company.

Key Themes to Watch in the Months Ahead

For readers tracking Strategy Inc — whether as investors, industry observers or crypto skeptics — several storylines are likely to dominate the next phase:

Bitcoin price path and volatility
Strategy’s earnings and balance sheet are tightly tethered to Bitcoin’s price. Further downside from current levels would compress fair‑value gains or introduce losses, stress covenant metrics and intensify scrutiny of the company’s risk profile. ^[39]
MSCI and other index committee decisions
A confirmed exclusion from major indices could trigger large passive outflows and elevate volatility, but the ultimate impact will depend on how quickly new buyers step in and how the company continues to communicate its balance‑sheet stress tests. ^[40]
Credit‑rating developments
S&P’s ‘B‑’ rating is both a warning and a precedent. Any revision — up or down — will shape how other Bitcoin‑heavy treasuries are evaluated, and could influence Strategy’s cost of capital in future preferred and debt offerings. ^[41]
Performance and uptake of STRE and other preferreds
The success of the STRE IPO and secondary market trading will be a real‑time gauge of investor appetite for Bitcoin‑linked income products in a higher‑rate, more volatile crypto environment. ^[42]
Growth and visibility of the software business
Wins like Lotte’s AI‑powered CRM deployment, as well as adoption of Mosaic as a universal intelligence layer, will help determine whether Strategy can eventually be valued as both a high‑margin software company and a Bitcoin treasury, rather than just a levered BTC proxy. ^[43]
Regulatory and policy backdrop for corporate Bitcoin treasuries
As credit agencies, index providers and regulators refine their treatment of crypto‑heavy balance sheets, Strategy may serve as a bellwether for how far traditional finance is willing to accommodate Bitcoin‑centric models — and on what terms. ^[44]

Important Note

This article is for informational and news purposes only. It summarizes and interprets publicly available information about Strategy Inc from company filings, press releases and independent media reports. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or cryptocurrency. Always do your own research and consider consulting a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.