Riot Platforms Inc. shares advanced 5.1% to $20.38 in morning trading Thursday, extending gains tied to the company’s pivot from Bitcoin mining toward AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan upgraded their price targets on the stock, citing accelerating momentum in data center leases. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $43 from $36 while maintaining an Overweight rating. JPMorgan lifted its target to $22 from $20, noting the company was "building momentum" with a major lease agreement.
The company’s valuation shift reflects its expanding role as a data center provider rather than a pure-play Bitcoin miner. Riot holds a 20-year lease for 191 megawatts at its Rockdale, Texas campus with AI firm Anthropic, expected to generate $9.1 billion in initial contract revenue. If extension options are exercised, the total potential value rises to $16.1 billion. Combined with an existing lease with AMD, Riot has contracted 241 megawatts of critical IT capacity, with total contracted data center revenue nearing $9.8 billion.
During the company’s earnings call, CEO Jason Les disclosed that the Corsicana campus is under a nonbinding letter of intent with a single prospective tenant for the entire site. Once fully deployed, the arrangement could generate more than $1 billion in annual rent.
The stock’s rally contrasts with broader market weakness, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded lower on the day. The move also follows a roughly 21% decline in the Bitcoin network hashrate, which has compressed mining profitability and widened the valuation gap between AI-focused miners like Riot and traditional Bitcoin mining firms.
