Investment bank B. Riley upgraded Core Scientific (CORZ) to buy from neutral and raised its price target on the stock from $17 to $30, citing strong standalone value and new momentum in high-performance computing (HPC).
The bank’s analysts expect shareholders to reject Core Scientific’s proposed merger with CoreWeave (CRWV), noting that the stock lags its peers despite being an early mover into HPC.
TeraWulf (WULF), rated Buy, remains B. Riley’s top pick, with his target raised from $14 to $22.
The company cited more than 400 MW of customer contracts and approximately $4 billion in capital commitments from WULF, positioning it to benefit from continued growth in AI-related infrastructure.
As part of a broader reassessment of the sector, analysts raised price targets for HPC names by 78% on average and raised estimates for 2026 by 5%, highlighting strong demand for energy and data center capacity driven by AI deals, according to Wednesday’s report.
The bank raised its Riot Platforms (RIOT) price target from $16 to $28, while reiterating its Buy rating on the stock. The price target for IREN (IREN) rated at Buy was raised to $74 from $29. The target for Bitdeer (BTDR) was increased from $17 to $32, with the Buy rating maintained. Bitfarms (BITF), also rated Buy, received a price target increase from $3 to $7.
The group has rebounded 418% since April, and recent declines of around 15% offer points of re-entry, the report notes.
Crypto-related stocks, particularly Bitcoin miners turned into AI infrastructure plays, suffered heavy losses on Wednesday.
Core Scientific shares fell 10%, TeraWulf, Riot, IREN and Bitdeer all fell 8-9%. Bitfarms was the worst performer, down 15% at press time.
Read more: CoreWeave CEO stands firm on $9 billion core science offer as shareholder opposition mounts
