Overview
- Jefferies initiated coverage on Thursday, June 18, 2026 with a Buy rating and a $79 price target and the stock rose roughly 5% in premarket trading.
- The investment case rests on large multi‑year deals reported with Microsoft (about $9.7 billion over five years) and NVIDIA (about $3.4 billion) that Jefferies says could drive roughly $3.1 billion in recurring annual revenue.
- Jefferies and filings describe a financing structure for the Microsoft deal that includes a $1.9 billion prepayment and roughly $3.65 billion in GPU financing and projects more than 20% unlevered IRRs under that arrangement.
- Independent coverage and company filings show heavy remaining capital needs, including convertible notes, GPU facilities and an expanded at‑the‑market equity program that create dilution and execution risk for the buildout.
- IREN has pivoted from Bitcoin mining to a multi‑gigawatt global AI data‑center footprint through land purchases and deals in the US, Spain and Australia, which increases potential returns but also raises operational and timing challenges for customers and investors.