Riot Platforms (RIOT) received consecutive analyst upgrades on Friday, with JPMorgan and Citigroup raising their outlooks amid the bitcoin miner’s strategic pivot into high-performance computing (HPC) and AI-focused services.
JPMorgan upgraded Riot to overweight from neutral, raising its price target to $19 from $15 and calling it the most attractive among mining peers. Citigroup upgraded Riot to buy from neutral, lifting its price target to $24 from $13.75. Both firms cited Riot’s expansion into AI and cloud services as a key growth driver amid tighter mining margins. Riot modestly outperformed the broader sector, declining only 1.2% to $16.55.
In related moves, JPMorgan downgraded IREN to underweight from neutral, with shares down 9.7% Friday but still up roughly 300% year-to-date. CleanSpark (CLSK) was lowered to neutral, falling 9.3% on the day while up 34% year-to-date.
The bank maintained its buy rating on Cipher Mining (CIFR) and doubled its price target to $12 from $6, with shares 3.5% lower at $11.20. MARA Holdings (MARA) remained overweight, though 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 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).
