IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• IREN shares gapped higher, opening at $36.31 versus a prior close of $35.19, amid reports that the company may have secured a multiyear AI cloud-services contract with Anthropic.
• Investor interest is shifting toward IREN’s AI infrastructure business as reports suggest AI revenue is surpassing bitcoin-mining revenue and the company plans to exit bitcoin mining.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: IREN has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $81.13, compared with a market price near $35.68, though the stock remains highly volatile with a beta of 4.26.

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $35.19, but opened at $36.31. IREN shares last traded at $35.6770, with a volume of 14,566,206 shares.

IREN News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting IREN this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports indicate IREN may have signed a multi-year AI cloud-services contract with Anthropic, a major frontier AI developer. A customer of this caliber could provide significant long-term revenue visibility and validate IREN’s GPU data-center strategy. IREN Stock Jumps on Talk Anthropic Is Its Mystery AI Customer
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic’s reported need to accelerate data-center construction to meet rising computing demand could benefit IREN if the company is part of its cloud-provider network. The potential deal also helped distinguish IREN from peers that saw less movement. Why is IREN stock up 5% in premarket trading on Monday?
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm is also supported by reports that IREN’s AI-related revenue is overtaking mining revenue and that the company intends to fully exit Bitcoin mining, signaling a potentially higher-value focus on AI infrastructure. IREN, Where AI Revenue Surpasses Mining, to Fully Exit Bitcoin Mining

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities began coverage on shares of IREN in a report on Friday, September 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of IREN from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, September 14th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of IREN in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of IREN in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of IREN in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $79.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IREN currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.13.

IREN Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 3.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.16 and a beta of 4.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Situational Awareness LP increased its stake in shares of IREN by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 11,698,835 shares of the company's stock worth $401,036,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,214 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IREN during the 4th quarter valued at about $137,075,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of IREN by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,138,619 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,312,000 after acquiring an additional 788,547 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank acquired a new position in shares of IREN during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,032,000. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of IREN by 3,865.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 845,113 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,970,000 after purchasing an additional 823,803 shares during the period. 41.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IREN Company Profile

IREN Limited, formerly known as Iris Energy Limited, is a data center company focused on bitcoin mining and high-performance computing. The company develops and operates data centers designed to use renewable energy and provides the infrastructure needed for energy-intensive digital workloads.

IREN's operations include bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence cloud services. Its AI business provides access to high-performance computing infrastructure, including graphics processing units (GPUs), for applications such as machine learning and other computational workloads.

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