** Core Scientific CORZ.O shares up 3.9% at $17.38 premarket after BTIG upgrades to 'buy' from 'neutral' in wake of its shareholders' rejection of CoreWeave's CRWV.O buyout offer
** Brokerage sets CORZ PT at $23, implying ~37% upside to stock's last close
** While CORZ was largely on the sidelines in 2H25 owing to merger plans with the AI-focused cloud provider, BTIG says it expects CORZ "to hit the ground running in 2026"
** BTIG sees CORZ securing additional HPC (high-performance computing) colocation contracts as power infrastructure for compute remains strong and securing incremental power as it looks to build its power infrastructure portfolio
** Base case is CORZ continues to execute on its delivery schedule for its contract with CRWV, with the 590MW contract operating at full scale in 2027, BTIG says
** Through Mon close, CORZ shares up ~15% to start 2026. Stock about 27% below its record intraday high of $23.63 hit in early Nov
** Now, 16 of 19 brokerages rate CORZ "strong buy" or "buy", rest "hold"; median PT is $25.50, according to data compiled by LSEG and Reuters
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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