Riot Platforms (RIOT) received consecutive analyst upgrades on Friday, with both JPMorgan and Citigroup raising their outlooks amid the bitcoin miner’s pivot toward high-performance computing and AI services.
JPMorgan upgraded Riot to overweight from neutral, lifting its price target to $19 from $15 and identifying it as the most attractive among mining peers. Citigroup upgraded to buy from neutral, raising its price target to $24 from $13.75. Both firms highlighted Riot’s AI and cloud services expansion as a potential growth catalyst as mining profitability tightens. Riot modestly outperformed the broader sector, falling only 1.2% to $16.55.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan downgraded IREN to underweight from neutral, with shares down 9.7% on Friday but still up roughly 300% year-to-date. CleanSpark (CLSK) was lowered to neutral, dropping 9.3% on the day but remaining up 34% year-to-date.
The bank maintained its buy rating on Cipher Mining (CIFR), doubling its price target to $12 from $6, with shares 3.5% lower at $11.20. MARA Holdings (MARA) remained overweight, although its price target was trimmed to $20 from $22, with shares down 1% at $15.90.
JPMorgan analysts assigned a 50% probability that Riot, Cipher, and IREN secure near-term high-performance computing (HPC) colocation agreements, referencing Core Scientific’s (CORZ) 800 MW CoreWeave (CRWV) deal as a benchmark. HPC contracts are valued between $3.7 million and $8.6 million per gross megawatt (MW).
