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