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Bitcoin Miner IREN Upgraded to Overweight, Cipher Mining Cut to Neutral: JPMorgan

Bitcoin miners (Shutterstock)

What to know:

  • JPMorgan cut price targets for bitcoin miners in its coverage by 19%-29%.
  • The bank upgraded IREN to overweight from neutral and cut Cipher Mining to neutral from overweight.
  • It reiterated its overweight rating on Riot Platforms and CleanSpark, and its neutral recommendation on MARA Holdings.

Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) updated its bitcoin (BTC) miner price targets and estimates following fourth-quarter 2024 results and to account for changes in the bitcoin price and the network hashrate.

JPMorgan raised IREN (IREN), its top pick in the sector, to overweight from neutral, and cut its price target to $12 from $15. The shares were 2.7% higher at $7.23 in early trade.

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Cipher Mining (CIFR) was downgraded to neutral from overweight, while the bank withdrew its $8 price target. The stock fell 3% to $3.10.

The bank reiterated its overweight ratings on Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK), and reduced their respective price targets to $13 and $12. Riot slipped 0.5% to $7.82. CleanSpark gained 0.6% to $8.15.

It reiterated its neutral rating on MARA Holdings (MARA), and cut the company's price target to $18 from $23. The shares rose 0.5% to $13.14.

Miner's price targets were slashed by 19%-29% to reflect a 10% reduction to the bank's bitcoin price assumption and an 80% increase to the bank's network hashrate growth estimate.

The total market cap of the five mining stocks that the bank covers has slumped more than 20% year-to-date versus a 11% decline in the bitcoin price, the report noted.

Mining stocks have come under pressure as high performance computing (HPC) deals have taken longer than expected to come to fruition, and mining economics have deteriorated, the bank said.

The pullback in these stocks offers an attractive entry point for investors, the report added.

Read more: Bitcoin Mining Economics Weakened in February: JPMorgan

Will Canny

Will Canny is an experienced market reporter with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. He's now covering the crypto beat as a finance reporter at CoinDesk. He owns more than $1,000 of SOL.

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