We recently published a list of 8 Best Crypto and Blockchain Stocks To Buy According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) stands against other best crypto and blockchain stocks to buy according to analysts.
The Global Blockchain Technology Market
The global blockchain technology market is expected to undergo significant growth in the coming years. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global blockchain technology market was valued at $17.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.9% between 2023 and 2030. This growth is anticipated to take the market to a valuation of $469.49 billion by the end of the forecast period.
The increasing adoption of blockchain technology in the financial and retail sectors is one of the primary drivers behind this growth trajectory, with another being the expanding acceptance of cryptocurrencies across the globe. Additional propellers such as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) services are further buoying the sector. BaaS services allow small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore blockchain applications without bringing in the complexity of in-house development.
Cryptocurrencies have played a pivotal role in the trends in the blockchain industry, incentivizing blockchain infrastructure development and boosting innovation in privacy and scalability. Diverse blockchain applications are emerging in the market, including supply chain management, trade finance, cross-border payments, lot lineage/provenance, and identity management.
Blockchain and Crypto: the Golden Post-Election Scenario
Blockchain technology enables the existence of cryptocurrency, among other things. Like a digital ledger, it records and confirms cryptocurrency trades. Behind the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is a blockchain called the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin has been regularly hitting fresh records post-election. Other cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, the favorite coin of strong Trump supporter Elon Musk, are also posting gains, as reported by BBC.
According to analysts, much of these recent gains are due to an anticipated crypto-friendly nature of the upcoming Trump administration, which may translate into more regulatory clarity but also some leeway. This may include a potential national strategic bitcoin reserve or stockpile, and supportive regulations for the industry.
On November 11, MacKenzie Sigalos appeared on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ to talk about Bitcoin’s post-election rally. She said that most Bitcoin miners are seeing double-digital percentage gains, painting a positive picture for Bitcoin and blockchain stocks. The wider crypto market is also seeing outsized gains.
Sigalos reminded that Donald Trump promised the mining of all future Bitcoin in the US, pledging to rapidly build out the country’s energy production and transmission infrastructure, which she claims is a great thing for power-hungry miners. This is one of the multiple commitments made by the President to the crypto industry on the campaign trail, along with firing SEC Chair Gary Gensler and launching a national crypto stockpile. Overall, the administration is anticipated to be crypto-friendly, painting a favorable picture for investors.
Our Methodology
We sifted through online rankings and ETFs to list the top crypto and blockchain stocks. We then selected 8 stocks with the highest upside potentials that were also the most popular among elite hedge funds. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their analysts’ upside potential as of November 23, 2024. We also included the number of hedge fund holders for each company as of fiscal Q3 2024, sourced from Insider Monkey’s database.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A table full of technology, with bitcoin mining rigs and a laptop showing a financial graph.
Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN)
Analyst Upside: 39.28%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) is a prominent name in the crypto and blockchain industry. It owns and operates data centers purposely built for high-performance computing to support application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for Bitcoin mining. These data centers are powered by 100% renewable energy. The company operates a data center infrastructure for Bitcoin mining. Its facilities are optimized for Bitcoin mining, AI cloud services, and other power-dense compute.
The company has a solid portfolio of 26oMW of operating data centers, expanding to 510MW in 2024. Its monthly revenue for October fiscal 2024 grew by 32% to $28.2 million. This growth was driven by an increase in the company’s operating hashrate to 21 exahashes per second and rising Bitcoin prices.
Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) boasts AI Cloud Services commissioning an additional 1,080 NVIDIA H200 GPUs, more than doubling its existing AI capacity. This is anticipated to generate approximately $32 million in annualized hardware profit by the end of December 2024.
Since the company utilizes 100% renewable energy for its operations, it aligns with global trends promoting greener energy. It holds a strategic advantage as a leader in sustainable practices within the industry. Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) takes the fifth spot on our list of the 8 best crypto and blockchain stocks to buy according to analysts.
Overall, IREN ranks 5th on our list of best crypto and blockchain stocks to buy according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of blockchain stocks, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IREN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.