Overview
- Hut 8 shares, which jumped 11.55% to close at $52.94 on Monday, rose after Arete Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $136 target that implies more than 150% upside.
- The thesis centers on the River Bend campus, where a 15‑year lease backed by Alphabet guarantees rent and, per Arete, could deliver about $454 million a year in operating income at roughly 99% margins.
- The contract’s base term covers 245 MW of capacity for Fluidstack for $7.7 billion and includes renewal options that could lift total lease revenue to $17.7 billion plus a right of first offer on 1,000 MW of expansion.
- The first River Bend data hall is expected to come online in the second quarter of 2027, with additional halls slated for later in the year, setting up a staged ramp in capacity and revenue.
- Analysts flagged crypto risk as Hut 8 still mines Bitcoin and owns about 61% of American Bitcoin Corp., while views now span Benchmark’s $85 Buy and Cantor’s $68 target to Arete’s street‑high $136.