Cipher Mining Inc

UBS analyst Ryan Gravett initiated coverage of five AI data center colocation stocks with bullish ratings, citing rapid growth potential as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates and computing capacity remains constrained. In a September 22, 2026 research note, Gravett said these companies' legacy cryptomining operations have provided favorable grid access, already translating into approximately 5 gigawatts of leased capacity representing roughly $125 billion in contracted revenues. The analyst forecasts average annual EBITDA growth of approximately 80% across the coverage group from 2027 to 2029, about 10% above consensus estimates for 2029, and sees an average upside potential of 36% across the five stocks despite recent share price declines of around 45% from recent highs. The five names are Hut 8 Corp with a Buy rating and $143 price target implying 45% upside, Terawulf Inc with a Buy rating and $24 price target for 41% upside, Applied Digital Corp with a Buy rating and $38 price target for 35% upside, Core Scientific Inc with a Buy rating and $24 price target for 33% upside, and Cipher Mining Inc with a Buy rating and $23 price target for 25% upside.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Cipher Digital to $54 from $43.50 on September 18 while keeping an Overweight rating, citing the Bitcoin miner's pivot to AI infrastructure. The thesis rests on a 15-year lease worth roughly $5.5 billion at Cipher's Black Pearl site with Amazon.com, under which Cipher agreed to provide about 300 megawatts to Amazon Web Services. Cipher began delivering capacity in August 2026, two months ahead of schedule, and said rent had commenced, while a separate Barber Lake transaction backed by Google adds another hyperscaler validation point. The bear case is financing and execution, since a long lease only becomes valuable once the data center is built, commissioned and delivered on schedule, and Cipher's legacy mining exposure means investors are underwriting a business-model transition while new projects consume cash. Insider Monkey's database counted 72 hedge funds holding Cipher in Q2 2026, up from 49 in Q1, with D. E. Shaw's disclosed common-share position at about 14.51 million shares after a 12% decrease, while Amazon's hedge-fund count rose to 369 from 353 and Arrowstreet Capital increased its position about 24% to 40.35 million shares.

Cipher Digital stock surged 13.9% in morning trading Wednesday after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas published an update indicating grid capacity of up to 3.2 gigawatts for the company's data centers in the state. The ERCOT update, issued through its Batch Zero evaluation framework before the market opened, bodes well for the scaling of Cipher Digital's AI compute business. The gain came as AI-related stocks broadly rebounded from recent sell-offs driven by concerns about potential increased regulation of the artificial intelligence industry. At the same point in the session, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6%.

IREN shares climbed 4% to $43.51 after securing a $2.4 billion GPU financing package led by Blue Owl Capital, validating its pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI cloud services. The package, split evenly between a term loan and senior secured notes, carries a 9% coupon, which is notably higher than the 6% coupon Cipher Mining recently paid on its $810 million bond offering for its Stingray facility, underscoring the cost difference between equipment-level GPU financing and hyperscaler-backed data-center debt. Cipher Digital also gained 2% to $17.68 as investors read across the terms. IREN's AI Cloud segment revenue more than doubled sequentially to $70.5 million last quarter, and the company targets over $4 billion in annual recurring revenue by year-end, with 2026 capacity largely sold out. The financing news comes after IREN reported a $684 million quarterly net loss driven by mining-hardware impairments.

NVIDIA smashed Wall Street estimates last night, reporting revenue of $96.2 billion against expectations of $91.9 billion and EPS of $2.22 versus $2.09, while also announcing that neocloud partners are expected to scale from about 3 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts of installed capacity this year, a move that lifted shares of CoreWeave, Nebius Group, TeraWulf, Cipher Digital, and IREN. The strong results come amid three signals that the bull market is set to resume its advance: QQQ has registered its eighth consecutive session closing below its open, a pattern that historically has been followed by positive returns 100% of the time over the next one, six, and twelve months, with a median one-year forward return of 30.59%; bearish sentiment in the AAII Sentiment Survey has outweighed bullish for six straight weeks, a contrarian indicator that preceded a multi-week rally in April; and NVIDIA's earnings underscore the strength of the AI sector. Despite summer volatility, these technical, sentiment, and fundamental factors are building a foundation for equities.

Netlist, Cipher Digital, and Hut 8 are gaining attention as overlooked stocks poised to benefit from AI infrastructure demand. Netlist secured a five-year licensing deal with Samsung that includes a $239 million upfront fee and up to $32.9 million in quarterly license fees, with Samsung also purchasing 10 million shares. Cipher Digital began collecting rent this month from its 300-megawatt Black Pearl site leased to Amazon and obtained an option for a 900-megawatt site near San Antonio, expanding its gigawatt pipeline. Hut 8 has secured 949 megawatts of contracted IT capacity expected to generate $1.75 billion in net operating income, with its Beacon Point site fully commercialized under two 352-megawatt IT leases.

Morgan Stanley projects a 38-gigawatt electricity gap for U.S. data centers, leaving up to an 11-gigawatt deficit through 2028 even after all practical solutions are deployed. The investment bank estimates that natural gas turbines could provide 15 to 20 gigawatts of that capacity, making GE Vernova the clearest beneficiary given its dominance in large-frame gas turbines and a multiyear data center order backlog. Other potential solutions include fuel cells, co-located nuclear plants, and repurposed Bitcoin mining sites, but Morgan Stanley's base case still shows a supply shortfall. Companies such as Bloom Energy, Constellation Energy, Vistra, Talen Energy, Core Scientific, IREN, and Cipher Mining also stand to benefit from the power crunch. The analysis suggests the AI industry's biggest obstacle has shifted from semiconductor supply to electricity supply, with owners of existing power assets poised to capture significant value.

Alphabet's projected capital expenditures of up to $205 billion this year are expected to benefit three AI-related companies. Cipher Digital, which builds and leases AI data centers to hyperscalers, stands to gain from increased demand for its co-location model that offers flexibility for custom chips like Alphabet's Tensor Processing Units. Broadcom, the designer of Alphabet's TPUs, will see more sales as Alphabet expands its custom chip business, adding to Broadcom's already strong AI semiconductor revenue that grew 143% year over year. Micron's memory chips, used in TPUs and other AI processors, will also see higher demand, supported by multiyear deals and ongoing supply shortages that boost margins.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Clarity Act is at the '1-yard line', urging Congress to pass the landmark bill before recess, which sent bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies higher on Tuesday. Bitcoin rose 2.08% to $66,559, Ethereum added 1.00% to $1,922, and Dogecoin gained 1.62% to $0.073. Crypto stocks surged, with Cipher Digital up 18.01% to $24.24, Coinbase Global up 11.70% to $179.20, Riot Platforms up 8.64% to $21.62, Robinhood Markets up 8.58% to $107.80, MARA Holdings up 8.10% to $12.62, Circle Internet Group up 7.90% to $70.62, Hut 8 up 7.81% to $108.81, CleanSpark up 7.66% to $15.53, Bullish up 6.83% to $24.24, Figure Technology Solutions up 6.31% to $32.34, Bakkt up 5.22% to $8.26, IREN up 4.71% to $42.10, Gemini Space Station up 4.33% to $4.70, and Strategy up 3.67% to $101.41.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Chris Brendler said the recent selloff in high-performance computing-linked stocks was overdone, creating a buying opportunity in Galaxy Digital and Cipher Digital. Galaxy Digital had fallen 22% over the prior two weeks while Cipher Digital dropped 13% as of the note's publication on July 2. The selloff intensified after a July 1 Bloomberg report that Meta Platforms was building a cloud operation aimed at outside customers, raising concern it could become a competitor in the neocloud stack. Brendler dismissed the fear, writing that the firm does not view the Meta news as a negative demand signal and pointing to a colleague's assessment that the story appeared company-specific with no indication of a shift in contracted demand. He highlighted Galaxy Digital's direct exposure to CoreWeave, with its Helios data center campus expanding the partnership by an additional 133 megawatts of critical IT load, leaving CoreWeave committed to the site's entire 800-megawatt gross-power approval. On Cipher Digital, Brendler said the pullback widened a persistent valuation disparity and framed the decline as a cheaper entry into the miner-to-HPC pivot theme without signaling deteriorating fundamentals.

Cipher Digital's wholly owned subsidiary, Stingray Compute LLC, has raised $810 million through a secured debt offering. The notes carry a 6% interest rate and mature in 2031, with the offering closing on June 15, 2026. Proceeds will fund completion of the Stingray data center, repay approximately $61.5 million in prior parent-company investments, and cover future interest and debt payments. The debt is secured by most assets of the Stingray facility and guaranteed by Cipher Stingray LLC, with Cipher Digital providing a completion guarantee and committing additional funds if needed.

TradersPro published a bullish thesis on Cipher Digital Inc., a bitcoin mining company that operates large-scale data centers powered primarily by renewable energy. The thesis highlights Cipher's cost-efficient model, expanding infrastructure, and favorable industry trends such as growing institutional adoption of digital assets and spot bitcoin ETFs. Cipher's stock was trading at $26.21 as of June 16th, with trailing and forward P/E ratios of 59.75 and 85.47 respectively. The analysis notes that 49 hedge fund portfolios held CIFR at the end of the first quarter, up from 43 in the previous quarter.