Iren (IREN) stock jumped around 5% in premarket trading Thursday after Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $79 price target. The stock was trading at roughly $58.11 at the time of the initiation, implying upside of around 36% to the analyst’s target.
Jefferies analyst Jonathan Petersen led the coverage initiation, calling out IREN’s position as a vertically integrated AI cloud provider with a powered land bank of approximately 6 gigawatts.
The firm pointed to IREN’s contracts with Microsoft and Nvidia as the backbone of the investment case. Together, those deals are expected to drive $3.1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
The Microsoft deal is a five-year, $9.7 billion contract for Nvidia GB300 GPU capacity, anchored at IREN’s 200 MW Childress facility. The structure includes a $1.9 billion prepayment and $3.65 billion in GPU financing at around 6% interest rates.
Jefferies said that arrangement allows IREN to recoup its $8.8 billion investment within the contract term, with unlevered internal rates of return exceeding 20%.
IREN also has a separate $3.4 billion AI cloud contract with Nvidia. Jefferies said these two relationships place IREN in the same competitive conversation as CoreWeave (CRWV) and Nebius (NBIS).
IREN was previously known primarily as a Bitcoin miner. The company has since pivoted to become a vertically integrated AI cloud provider, a shift that Jefferies described as a “compelling strategic pivot.”
Revenue grew 105% over the past twelve months, reflecting the pace of that transformation.
Owning its own land and data centers gives IREN flexibility to serve customers across a range of configurations — from powered shells through to full GPU cloud deployments, Jefferies noted.
Beyond its existing US footprint, IREN recently completed the acquisition of Ingenostrum, S.L., known as Nostrum Group, a developer of AI data centers in Spain. The deal adds roughly 490 megawatts of secured, grid-connected power and marks IREN’s first move into the European market.
IREN also signed a transmission connection agreement for a planned 800 MW data center in Bundey, South Australia — expected to be one of the largest data centers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Following the Australian announcement, B. Riley raised its price target on IREN to $96 with a Buy rating. Macquarie reiterated an Outperform rating with a $90 price target.
Needham has taken a more cautious view, trimming its estimates for IREN citing a delayed ramp-up of AI cloud revenue through calendar year 2026 and lower projections for Bitcoin contributions.
The stock has returned around 493% over the past year.
The post Is Iren Stock the Next CoreWeave? Jefferies Thinks It Could Be appeared first on CoinCentral.
