TechFlow news, on March 20, according to The Block, Bernstein, a research and brokerage firm, has lowered its 2025 price targets for several Bitcoin mining companies due to their significantly weaker performance compared to Bitcoin this year.
"Bitcoin miners have gone through a painful adjustment this year (down 20-40%), while Bitcoin itself only declined by 10%. Overall, miner equities have delivered disappointing performance—no meaningful upside in Q4 last year and an even greater correction YTD than Bitcoin," said Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani and his team in a client report released Thursday.
Analysts noted that institutional investor interest in mining firms has centered more around the AI/HPC (high-performance computing) narrative rather than the Bitcoin commodity cycle. However, although diversified advocates such as IREN and Core Scientific were among the strongest AI data center colocation plays in 2024, they have underperformed traditional Bitcoin miners like Riot and MARA this year.
The specific adjustments are as follows:
- IREN's target price was reduced from $26 to $20, primarily due to higher industry hash rate affecting its Bitcoin production and market share;
- CleanSpark's target price was cut from $30 to $20 for similar reasons;
- Riot's target price was lowered from $22 to $19, due to significant resource reallocation toward AI/HPC purposes and the suspension of its Bitcoin mining expansion plans;
Bernstein maintained its target prices for MARA and Core Scientific at $23 and $17, respectively. Analysts also kept their year-end Bitcoin price target unchanged at $200,000.
Meanwhile, Bernstein gave Coinbase an "Outperform" rating on Tuesday with a $310 target price, implying 69% upside from its current trading level of approximately $190, despite COIN also underperforming Bitcoin this year.
