Remember that kid in school who somehow aced every test without breaking a sweat? Meet IREN (NASDAQ:IREN), the Bitcoin miner that’s casually sitting on a 268% gain this year while everyone else is still figuring out what blockchain actually means.
Here’s the thing about IREN – it started life as Iris Energy, mining Bitcoin like it was going out of style. But somewhere along the way, someone in their boardroom had a lightbulb moment: “Hey, what if we also built some really fancy data centers for AI stuff?” Turns out, that was a pretty good idea.
The Numbers That’ll Make You Do a Double-Take
Let’s talk money, because that’s why we’re all here. IREN pulled in $485 million from Bitcoin mining last year – that’s a 163% jump from the year before. Meanwhile, their AI data center business only made $16 million, but here’s where it gets interesting: they’re building this thing called the Sweetwater facility in Texas that’s basically the Costco of data centers, with 2 GW of capacity.
Translation? They’re about to have enough computing power to make your gaming rig weep.
Why Nvidia is Basically Their New Best Friend
Speaking of making things weep, IREN just scored “preferred partner” status with Nvidia. You know, the company that makes those chips everyone’s fighting over? They can now deploy more than 60,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs across their facilities. That’s like having a direct line to the cool kids’ table in the AI cafeteria.
The company estimates this AI business could generate $200-250 million annually by December 2025. Not bad for a side hustle that started as “let’s see what happens if we rent out some server space.”
The Reality Check Section
Now, before you start throwing your life savings at this stock, let’s pump the brakes for a hot second. IREN is trading at a P/E ratio of 95, which is basically Wall Street’s way of saying “we really, really believe in your future.” The forward P/E is more reasonable at 37, but still – this isn’t exactly a bargain-bin special.
Canaccord analysts just bumped their price target to $42 (it’s trading around $36 now), which suggests they think there’s still some juice left in this orange. But remember, analysts are the same people who thought WeWork was a good idea, so take that with a grain of salt.
The Bottom Line
IREN is basically playing two games at once – mining Bitcoin when it’s profitable and building the infrastructure for our AI-powered future. It’s like having a backup plan for your backup plan, except both plans are currently printing money.
Is it risky? Absolutely. Bitcoin could tank tomorrow, AI could turn out to be overhyped, or Texas could run out of electricity (okay, that last one’s probably not happening). But if you’re looking for a company that’s positioned at the intersection of two of the hottest trends in tech, IREN might just be worth a closer look.
Just don’t bet the farm on it. Or do – I’m not your financial advisor.