Bitcoin Miner Marathon Digital (MARA) Raised to Overweight by JPMorgan; IREN, Riot Lowered to Neutral

JPMorgan Recalibrates Bitcoin Miner Ratings Amid Sector Tailwinds

JPMorgan revised its ratings and price targets for a group of bitcoin mining stocks on Monday, citing updated Q2 earnings, shifts in network hashrate, and stronger bitcoin prices.

The bank upgraded Marathon Digital (MARA) to Overweight from Neutral and raised its price target to $22 from $19, implying nearly 30% upside from Friday’s close just above $17.

At the same time, Iris Energy (IREN) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) were both downgraded to Neutral from Overweight. However, their price targets were raised—IREN to $16 from $12, and Riot to $15 from $14.

CleanSpark (CLSK) retained its Overweight rating and remains the bank’s top pick, with the price target bumped up to $15 from $14, also reflecting ~30% upside from Friday’s close below $12.

Cipher Mining (CIFR), while still unrated by JPMorgan, was assigned a new price target of $6.

“In a shift, we favor the pure-play operators within our coverage universe, as they offer the best relative value and are best positioned to benefit from a rising bitcoin price,” wrote analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce.

The team noted that rising BTC prices and improving miner profitability drove the upward revision in targets across the sector.

At publication time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $118,700.