In a recent development, leading financial services firm Jefferies has commenced coverage of Bitcoin miner Core Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ) with a 'Buy' rating, underscoring its potential to leverage the burgeoning demand for artificial intelligence (AI).
What Happened: Jefferies analysts were optimistic about Core Scientific's prospects, citing its robust power supply and data center development team as key factors in its ability to meet the escalating AI demand, Coindesk reported Monday. Consequently, the bank has initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating and a $19 price target.
Jefferies analysts Jonathan Petersen and Jan Aygul highlighted the company's 12-year contract with Nvidia-backed cloud provider CoreWeave to provide infrastructure for AI use cases and said that a successful execution would pave the way for more such deals in the future.
They also pointed out that the firm's bitcoin mining operations continue to be profitable and are becoming increasingly efficient.
A "buy" rating on a stock means that the analyst believes the stock is undervalued and has the potential to increase in price.
Why It Matters: Core Scientific's journey in 2024 has been marked by significant milestones. The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January earlier this year and saw its shares relist on Wall Street.
Since then, the stock has surged 312%, largely driven by a recovery in Bitcoin's price and the company's shift to a high-performance computing model, servicing data center demand for AI applications.
In a recent interview with Benzinga, CEO Adam Sullivan said that in contrast to the volatile Bitcoin mining business, the AI business offers a "predictable, long-term, and profitable" revenue stream.
Price Action: Shares of Core Scientific popped 6.21% to $14.20 during Monday's regular trading session, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
The broader Bitcoin mining sector also saw gains, with the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (NASDAQ:WGMI) surging over 10%.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
