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Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) secured back-to-back analyst upgrades on Friday as JPMorgan and Citigroup boosted their outlooks for the bitcoin mining company. Both firms cited the evolving economics of crypto mining and Riot’s pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud services as key growth catalysts.
JPMorgan raised Riot’s rating to overweight from neutral and lifted its price target to $19 from $15, noting that Riot stands out as the most attractive among bitcoin mining peers. Citigroup upgraded Riot to buy from neutral and more than doubled its price target to $24 from $13.75. Despite sector-wide weakness, Riot stock traded at $16.55, down just 1.2%, outperforming peers on a volatile day for miners.
The upgrades came alongside shifts in other mining stock ratings. JPMorgan downgraded Iris Energy (IREN) to underweight from neutral, sending shares down nearly 10%, though still up 300% year-to-date. CleanSpark (CLSK) was cut to neutral, with shares sliding over 9% but remaining 34% higher on the year. Cipher Mining (CIFR) maintained a buy rating, with its price target doubled to $12. Cipher shares slipped 3.5% to $11.20 at the time of publication. Meanwhile, Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) kept its overweight status, though JPMorgan trimmed its price objective from $22 to $20.
JPMorgan analysts estimate a 50% probability that Riot, Cipher, and Iris Energy will secure near-term HPC colocation contracts, pointing to Core Scientific’s (CORZ) $800 million deal with CoreWeave (CRVW) as a model. The bank values HPC agreements at $3.7 million to $8.6 million per megawatt (MW), underscoring the revenue potential for miners diversifying beyond traditional bitcoin mining.
With Wall Street turning bullish, Riot’s strategic expansion into AI-driven cloud infrastructure could provide resilience against declining mining margins, positioning it as a leader in the next phase of digital infrastructure growth.
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