IREN Stock Rises 9% After Microsoft Deployment and Nvidia Status

17-Aug-2026 CoinCentral

TLDR

  • IREN stock ended the week up around 9% after completing its first AI cloud deployment for Microsoft
  • The deployment, called Horizon 1, is the first of four planned phases under a five-year, $9.7 billion Microsoft contract
  • Nvidia granted IREN its Exemplar Cloud status for the GB300 NVL72 platform
  • Q3 2026 revenue came in at $144.8 million, down 21.6% year-over-year, with losses widening to $0.74 per share
  • Analysts hold a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $83

IREN stock closed the week up around 9% after two back-to-back announcements that caught the market’s attention. Microsoft accepted the company’s first 50-megawatt AI cloud deployment, and Nvidia handed IREN its Exemplar Cloud status for the GB300 NVL72 platform.


IREN Stock Card
IREN Limited, IREN

The stock opened Friday at $44.06. It carries a 52-week range of $17.22 to $76.87 and a market cap of around $15.75 billion. Year-to-date, IREN is up 19%.

The Microsoft deployment, known as Horizon 1, is located at IREN’s Childress, Texas campus. It uses direct-to-chip liquid cooling and marks the start of four planned deployments under a five-year, $9.7 billion contract signed in November last year.

By earning Exemplar Cloud status, IREN joins a short list that includes CoreWeave, Nebius, AWS, Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Power Is the Edge

IREN’s core advantage is its power portfolio, a legacy of its Bitcoin mining past. The company has 810 MW of operational grid-connected data center capacity, with 2,100 MW under construction and 1,600 MW in development across six North American locations.

That experience with power procurement, electrical infrastructure, and cooling has helped IREN land $2.8 billion in contracts with names like Perplexity, Figure AI, and Fireworks AI, on top of the Microsoft deal.

The company is targeting 480 MW of AI cloud capacity by end of 2026 and 1,210 MW by 2027. Management has also outlined a longer-term pathway to 5 gigawatts of capacity across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

In Q1 2026, IREN also acquired the Nostrum Group, adding 490 MW of European power capacity and a 50-person team.

Financials Tell a Mixed Story

Q3 2026 revenue came in at $144.8 million, down 21.6% from a year earlier, largely due to Bitcoin mining hardware being decommissioned. Cloud revenue, though, grew to $33.6 million from $17.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Cloud ARR is now running at $3.7 billion. Bernstein sees that figure potentially reaching $10 billion by 2028 and has reiterated a Buy rating with a $100 price target.

Losses widened to $0.74 per share versus $0.07 a year ago, well above the consensus estimate of a $0.22 loss. It was IREN’s second consecutive quarter of missing on the bottom line.

On the positive side, net cash from operating activities for the nine months ended March 31, 2026 rose 102.7% year-over-year to $289.3 million. IREN ended the period with $2.2 billion in cash against just $0.5 million in short-term debt.

Valuation is a sticking point. IREN’s forward price-to-sales ratio of 21.59 and price-to-cash flow of 48.25 are well above sector medians.

Of 15 analysts covering the stock, 11 rate it a Strong Buy, three say Hold, and one says Strong Sell. The average price target is $83, implying around 83% upside from current levels.

IREN is set to report its full fiscal year 2026 results on August 27.

The post IREN Stock Rises 9% After Microsoft Deployment and Nvidia Status appeared first on CoinCentral.

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