According to CoinDesk, Canaccord has increased its share-price target for Iris Energy from $12 to $15, citing the bitcoin miner's substantial power supplies and high-performance computing options. The broker's report highlights Iris Energy's potential to monetize its infrastructure for bitcoin mining, cloud computing, and AI colocation.

Iris Energy (IREN), based in Sydney, is poised to become one of the most efficient and largest publicly listed bitcoin miners. The company is also exploring high-performance computing (HPC) opportunities as it initiates its pilot project in Childress, Texas, in the latter half of the year. The report notes that few bitcoin miners have access to the same level of power resources as Iris Energy.

The company is constructing 510 megawatts (MW) of data centers in 2024, has secured 2,160 MW of power capacity, and boasts a development pipeline exceeding 1 gigawatt (GW). Analysts led by Joseph Vafi emphasized these points in their research report. Following this, Canaccord maintained its buy rating for Iris Energy, which saw its shares trading 1.6% higher at $11.06 on Nasdaq early Wednesday.

The recent rerating of mining stocks, influenced by Core Scientific's (CORZ) AI deal with cloud computing firm CoreWeave, indicates that the market sees potential in AI and HPC opportunities as alternative and more profitable uses for bitcoin mining sites. This sentiment was echoed in a report by JPMorgan (JPM) last week.

Earlier this month, Iris Energy's shares dropped by 14% after a short seller questioned the suitability of the Childress site for hosting AI or high-performance computing. Despite this, the shares remain below their pre-slump level of nearly $14.

Canaccord's report suggests that Iris Energy, primarily an infrastructure company, is likely to expand the use of its data centers beyond bitcoin mining. The company is well-prepared in terms of power, cooling, and network capabilities. Bitcoin mining remains a proven value proposition for Iris Energy, helping to fund its infrastructure developments. The report also outlines several ways the company can monetize its infrastructure, including bitcoin mining, AI cloud, and AI colocation.