JonesResearch on October 20 reiterated Hold ratings on Cipher Mining (CIFR), IREN Ltd. (IREN), Mara Holdings (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK), while assigning Buy ratings to Hut 8 (HUT), TeraWulf (WULF) and Riot Platforms (RIOT).
Get these headlines directly to your inbox: subscribe to Blockspace.
Cipher Mining’s stock is held at its current level after modest cuts to third-quarter and full-year 2025 revenue and EBITDA forecasts. JonesResearch notes strong execution on its Fluidstack/Google lease and potential follow-on deals but caution that much of the company’s 2027 development pipeline is already priced in, arguing that Cipher trades at about 87% of estimated pipeline equity value versus a 61% coverage average.
IREN’s Hold reflects downward revisions to near-term production and cost assumptions, partly offset by raised 2026 estimates following plans to expand its Canadian AI cloud build-out to 60,000 GPUs. Despite strong retail support and momentum around GPU expansion, the firm argues IREN’s bare-metal focus lacks the software depth and enterprise integration needed for durable returns, and its valuation appears elevated amid execution and dilution risks.
Mara remains on Hold after JonesResearch lowered its Q3 and 2025 revenue and EBITDA estimates and highlighted skepticism around the company’s ability to monetize power-management services for AI inference and advance its off-grid mining growth. Uncertainty over a proposed 64% acquisition of EDF’s Exaion, now under review on sovereignty grounds, further clouds near-term catalysts for a re-rating.
CleanSpark’s Hold rating follows reductions to Q3 and 2025 estimates amid lower mining uptime, despite management’s appointment of Matt Schultz and renewed optimism around AI/HPC optionality. Shares have rallied 94% since the leadership change, but JonesResearch prefers to await clearer updates on the scale and timing of the company’s AI/HPC pipeline before upgrading.
Hut 8 earns a Buy with a raised the price target to $67, reflecting full value for an estimated 530 MW gross AI/HPC leasing pipeline across River Bend, Batavia and Texas Site 03, valued at $5.85 billion at a 5.5% cap rate. While American Bitcoin’s mining operations dominate consolidated results and present dilution risk given Hut’s 64% stake, exposure to AI/HPC colocation underpins long-term upside.
TeraWulf retains a Buy with an increased price target of $24, backed by a sum-of-the-parts valuation of its 886 MW AI/HPC pipeline through 2027—spanning Core42/Fluidstack, Lake Mariner and Cayuga Lake—valued at $13.85 billion at a 5.5% cap rate, and modestly raised Q3 revenue and EBITDA forecasts on higher hashprice trends.
Riot Platforms’ Buy reflects slight upward revisions to Q3 and 2026 revenue and EBITDA estimates and a view that the market underappreciates its AI/HPC prospects. JonesResearch values a fully contracted 1 GW Corsicana lease at $9.83 billion and applies a 6.0x EV/EBITDA multiple to the remaining mining and engineering business, lifting the price target to $30.
