B. Riley analyst Lucas Pipes started coverage of Iris Energy ( NASDAQ: IREN ) with a Buy rating on Thursday as the bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) miner rapidly scales its operating capacity while targeting low-cost renewable energy in favorable areas. Earlier, the company said it generated 11% more bitcoins ( BTC-USD ) in March vs. February, and drove up its operating hashrate by 79%. "With no corporate-level debt outstanding, we believe that IREN is well positioned to take advantage of the recent recovery in BTC and that the company has a natural moat through its low-cost footprint in favorable jurisdictions," Pipes wrote in a note. He estimated that IREN could hit an operating hashrate of 4.1 exahashes per second by end the of April, compared with 3.1 EH/s at April 5 and the company's near-term target of 5.5 EH/s, as 2.0 EH/s of miners have already been delivered and could come online within weeks, he said. IREN slipped 0.7% in Thursday morning trading even as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) held slightly in the green. Pipes' Buy rate disagrees with the Quant system rating of Hold and aligns with the average Wall Street analyst rating of Buy. See why Mike Fay, investing group leader of 'BlockChain Reaction,' laid out a Hold thesis for IREN.
