Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) Shares Up 22.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Core Scientific shares jumped 22.9% after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock to Outperform and raised its price target to $28 from $25.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and average target price of $31.60, supported by Core Scientific’s pivot toward AI data-center services and its AMD partnership.
• Despite revenue of $164.2 million beating estimates, the company reported a sharply wider-than-expected $3.32 per-share loss; heavy capital spending and potential dilution from AMD-linked warrants remain key risks.

Core Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ - Get Free Report) rose 22.9% during trading on Thursday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods now has a $28.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $25.00. Core Scientific traded as high as $22.40 and last traded at $22.2780. 7,503,267 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 12,681,709 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.12.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CORZ. Freedom Capital raised shares of Core Scientific to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Core Scientific from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Core Scientific in a research report on Wednesday. Lucid Cap Mkts upgraded Core Scientific to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Core Scientific in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Todd M. Duchene sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.95, for a total transaction of $209,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,989,101 shares in the company, valued at $41,671,665.95. This trade represents a 0.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 90,000 shares of company stock worth $2,234,900. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Core Scientific

Here are the key news stories impacting Core Scientific this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AMD partnership supports Core Scientific’s AI pivot. AMD agreed to lease up to 2.5 gigawatts of data-center capacity, beginning with approximately 529–530 megawatts under 15-year agreements across five sites. The initial deployment represents about $14 billion in potential base contracted revenue, subject to development and execution. Mining For Megawatts: AMD's Billion-Dollar Grid Grab
• Positive Sentiment: Colocation growth demonstrates progress beyond cryptocurrency mining. Second-quarter revenue reached $164.2 million, above expectations, while colocation revenue surged to $136.7 million from $10.6 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was $41.1 million, suggesting improving underlying operations. Core Scientific second-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support remains strong. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded CORZ to Outperform with a $28 price target, while Needham and BTIG maintained Buy ratings. Canaccord also reiterated Buy and raised its target to $36. The appointment of AI and semiconductor executive Mark Adams to the board adds relevant industry expertise. Core Scientific board appointment
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity signals heightened speculation. Traders purchased roughly 141,404 call options, about 55% above typical volume. This may reflect bullish expectations, but it also highlights CORZ’s elevated volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP results were sharply worse than expected. Core Scientific reported a quarterly loss of $3.32 per share versus consensus for a $0.06 loss. The roughly $1.15 billion net loss was driven largely by noncash warrant fair-value adjustments, but the size of the miss is weighing on sentiment despite the revenue beat.
• Negative Sentiment: AI conversion requires substantial capital and carries dilution risk. Quarterly capital expenditures were approximately $797.5 million as former mining facilities are upgraded. AMD received warrants for up to 30 million CORZ shares at $23.47, potentially diluting shareholders. Insider Todd Duchene also sold 10,000 shares in a recent transaction, although the sale represented only about 0.5% of his holdings.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Core Scientific by 206.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,410 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Core Scientific by 936.7% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,866 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,686 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Core Scientific by 112.1% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,017 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Core Scientific during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in Core Scientific in the second quarter worth about $36,000.

Core Scientific Price Performance

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $25.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.78. The stock has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.99 and a beta of 5.50.

Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported ($3.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($3.26). The firm had revenue of $164.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.83 million. Analysts forecast that Core Scientific, Inc. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

About Core Scientific

Core Scientific, Inc NASDAQ: CORZ is a leading provider of large-scale blockchain infrastructure and digital asset mining services. The company develops, owns and operates high-performance data centers optimized for the mining of Bitcoin and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. In addition to its core mining operations, Core Scientific offers colocation, hosting and managed services designed to support institutional clients and enterprise users in deploying and scaling blockchain nodes and computing hardware.

Core Scientific's service portfolio includes hardware procurement, deployment and maintenance, real-time monitoring, power management and network connectivity.

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