Bitcoin Miner IREN Has 80% Potential Upside Thanks to Big Bet on AI Cloud: Bernstein

IREN (IREN), one of the largest self-operated bitcoin (BTC) miners in the U.S., is breaking away from the pack, and Wall Street is taking notice.Bernstein analysts raised their price target on IREN to $75 from $20, implying about 80% upside, as the miner doubles down on building its own AI cloud business rather than relying on co-location deals with partners like CoreWeave (CRWV).IREN has already had a major move, ahead more than eight-fold from its 52-week low of $5.13 hit in April. The shares are higher by 365% year-over-year.The broker now sees IREN’s AI pivot as credible, despite early skepticism about the miner’s ability to execute on a capital-intensive data center build-out and compete with AI cloud players tied to hyperscalers and Nvidia (NVDA).IREN is guiding for rapid growth, the report noted, with $500 million in annual recurring revenue by Q1 2026 on 23,300 GPUs, up from roughly $14 million in Q1 2025.Beyond AI, IREN retains flexibility with its 3 gigawatt (GW) power portfolio, balancing bitcoin mining and AI workloads to maximize revenue per megawatt, Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.Its 50 EH/s mining operation generates an estimated $600 million in annualized EBITDA at current bitcoin prices, funding its AI expansion, according to the analysts.Bernstein has shifted its valuation approach to a sum-of-parts model, assigning 87% of enterprise value to AI cloud and co-location potential at IREN’s 2GW West Texas site, with the remaining 13% coming from bitcoin mining. At the revised target, IREN would trade at $7.5 million per megawatt (MW), above other AI-focused miners but still far below established data center peers like CoreWeave, suggesting further room for multiple expansion, the report added.Read more: IREN Shares Jump 11% in Pre-Market Trading as Bitcoin Miner Doubles AI Cloud Fleet