Key Takeaways
- Riot Platforms rose 5% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $41 from $35.50.
- Riot and CleanSpark climbed as bitcoin fell, as investors price them as AI data center landlords.
- Morgan Stanley cut its targets on Applied Digital and Cipher Digital, making its raise a vote for Riot’s $28 billion lease.
- Riot still has to finance its build, and its first Rockdale lab space isn’t due until December 2027.
Riot Platforms (RIOT) is up another 5% today after Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $41 from $35.50. And that’s with bitcoin sliding toward $74,000. CleanSpark (CLSK) shrugged it off too and is up 11%.
Yet Morgan Stanley also cut its targets on Applied Digital (APLD), to $25 from $41, and Cipher Digital (CIFR), to $27.50 from $51.50.
Riot trades like a landlord now
On Nov. 4, Riot leased all 910 megawatts of IT capacity at its Corsicana, Texas, campus to Anthropic for 15 years, for about $28 billion. Mining brought in 89% of its 2025 revenue, and analysts now expect $1.65 billion of 2028 revenue, up from $1.21 billion in late October:
Investors are paying up: Riot traded at 8.1x forward sales at Friday’s close, above its five-year average of 6.2x, and today’s jump takes it a bit higher.
CleanSpark is a step behind on the same path. Its 20-year, $6.6 billion Sandersville lease is signed, but its revenue still comes from mining, and fell 30.5% year over year to $138.0 million in the quarter ended June 30. Its report in early December needs to show another lease.
TIKR tracks 22 analysts on Riot Platforms. How many say “Buy”?
See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Riot Platforms, along with Wall Street’s revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Riot Platforms’ Analyst Ratings
Morgan Stanley is picking its spots
My read: the difference is who pays for the build. Riot expects Corsicana to cost about $6 million per IT megawatt, with two-thirds paid only after each phase starts paying rent and no plan to sell stock.
Applied Digital and Cipher are carrying more of their builds. Applied Digital lost $221.0 million in the quarter ended Aug. 31 on $65.8 million of base rent and sold $1.59 billion of 7% notes. Cipher booked its first data center rent last quarter and sold $850 million of convertible notes to put more equity into Barber Lake.
Riot isn’t in the clear either: its first Rockdale lab space isn’t due until December 2027, and it still has to line up project debt for both campuses.
Bottom line: I think Morgan Stanley picked the right name. But after a run this fast, I’d want Riot’s project debt to close on good terms before chasing it.
So what is Riot Platforms stock actually worth?
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
