Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.US) saw its shares surge sharply on Monday, climbing as much as 19% before closing up 14.21% at $50.39. The rally followed Benchmark, a StoneX company, raising its price target to $85—the highest on Wall Street.
Analysts attributed the upgrade to the real estate investment trust's (REIT) recent agreement to lease 245 megawatts of capacity at its River Bend data campus to Fluidstack for 15 years. Analyst Mark Palmer noted in a research report, "This deal combines superior economic terms relative to comparable transactions, long-term investment-grade guaranteed cash flows, and multiple embedded expansion options across three counterparties—Anthropic, Fluidstack, and Google (GOOGL.US). We believe this positions Hut 8 as one of the most advantaged AI/high-performance computing infrastructure providers in the public market."
Palmer also commended Hut 8's management for not rushing to monetize its power assets during the early stages of the AI infrastructure race, when pricing, structure, and counterparty terms were less favorable. Instead, the company waited to secure a deal meeting its internal return thresholds and strategic criteria.
Benchmark valued the initial 245 MW River Bend portion at approximately $7.6 billion, reflecting both the contract's cash flows and the scarcity value of investment-grade, AI-ready power resources. Using a sum-of-the-parts valuation, Palmer reiterated a "Buy" rating on Hut 8 and raised the price target from $78 to $85.
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