IREN price target raised to $75 from $20 at Bernstein

Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani raised the firm’s price target on IREN (IREN) to $75 from $20 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Amongst Bitcoin miners within the firm’s coverage, Bernstein says it is witnessing IREN breaking out from the group. Unlike most miners, which have struck “capital light” co-location deals with AI Cloud partners, IREN is building its own AI cloud vertical, investing substantial capex. The firm was early to the AI pivot of Bitcoin miners, however, Bernstein acknowledges that it underestimated IREN’s capability to build its own AI cloud business primarily due to high capex intensity and GPU leverage required; unproven AI data center execution capabilities and competition with AI neocloud leaders which have established hyperscaler and Nvidia (NVDA) relationships. The firm believes IREN has made adequate progress for it to take the AI cloud business seriously, and build an investment case for re-rating.