This stock is up a ridiculous 268% YTD.
IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) may not be the most well-known Bitcoin miner out there, but it is certainly one of the best performers.
IREN stock has returned a ridiculous 268% year-to-date and it has gained 368% over the past 12 months. It is currently trading at about $36 per share, and analysts see it moving even higher.
On Tuesday, analysts at Canaccord boosted their price target for IREN stock to $42 per share, up from the previous $37. IREN is currently trading at around $36 per share, so a $42 per share target would suggest an additional 17% return. The stock is rated as a consensus buy among the 12 analysts that cover it.
IREN, previously known as Iris Energy, started as a Bitcoin miner and still makes most of its revenue from that business. In the last fiscal year ended June 30, it generated $485 million in revenue from its Bitcoin mining, and just $16 million from AI Cloud Services, which includes its data centers.
But the company is investing heavily in its high-capacity data centers, which are specifically built to accommodate AI applications. It currently owns four data centers and is in the process of building two more. Last year, it grew its data center capacity by 212% and they are building two new facilities in Texas.
One of them is the massive Sweetwater facility, which is built to handle AI workloads and will feature 2 GW of capacity.
Biggest Publicly Traded Bitcoin Mining Companies
| Company | Ticker | Market cap (today) |
|---|---|---|
| Iris Energy | IREN | $10.1B |
| Marathon Digital | MARA | $6.49B |
| Riot Platforms | RIOT | $6.47B |
| Core Scientific | CORZ | $4.94B |
| TeraWulf | WULF | $4.46B |
| Hut 8 | HUT | $3.69B |
| Bitdeer Technologies | BTDR | $3.5B |
| CleanSpark | CLSK | $3.14B |
Nvidia preferred partnership
Much of this added capacity will likely be filled by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), the leading AI chipmaker.
IREN has the capacity to deploy more than 60,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs at its data centers in Canada and more than 19,000 GB300s at its Horizon facility in Texas.
The company estimates $200 million to $250 million in annualized revenue from its AI Cloud business by December 2025 at 10,900 Nvidia GPUs, so there is a lot of room for growth. That should come as IREN recently secured preferred partner status with Nvidia.
In their price target upgrades, Canaccord analysts cited the expanding data center infrastructure, mentioning the Sweetwater project specifically. They said the build-out is already attracting new customers and should continue to do so.
While it ramps up the data center business, the Bitcoin mining side of the house has been carrying the firm to profitability. In the last fiscal year, Bitcoin mining generated $485 million in revenue, a 163% jump over the previous year. It helped the company generate $87 million in net income last fiscal year, up from a $29 million net loss the previous year.
Looking ahead, IREN anticipates $1 billion in annualized revenue from Bitcoin mining, which would be double what it made last fiscal year.
IREN has a high P/E ratio of 95, but the numbers may be a bit skewed as it just became profitable. But it has a more reasonable forward P/E ratio of 37. Put this one on your radar.
