IREN's Stock Decline Linked to AI Partnership Expectations, Says Bernstein

IREN's stock experienced a significant drop following its financial report release, according to PANews. The decline, approximately 18% to around $39.79, was attributed to market disappointment over the absence of new major AI partnership announcements, rather than a deterioration in fundamentals. Bernstein analysts highlighted that fluctuations in Bitcoin-related earnings are no longer central to IREN's investment strategy. Investors are increasingly focused on the company's progress in transitioning to AI cloud infrastructure. Despite a quarter-on-quarter decrease in Bitcoin mining revenue, IREN's AI cloud revenue more than doubled, securing approximately $2.3 billion in annual recurring AI cloud contracts. This figure is expected to rise to $3.4 billion by the fourth quarter of 2026, equivalent to deploying around 140,000 GPUs. Bernstein maintains an "outperform" rating for IREN with a target price of $125, viewing the recent stock decline as a reset of expectations rather than a sign of deteriorating execution capabilities.