Why Are IREN Shares Surging On Wednesday?

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) shares are up Wednesday. The S&P 500 gained just 0.04% and the Nasdaq-100 rose 0.34% at the same time.

Short Squeeze Risk Builds

Short interest on IREN rose from 41.95 million to 44.47 million shares — 14.03% of the public float. At 30.35 million average daily volume, short sellers need 1.46 days to cover, raising squeeze risk.

The $6 Billion Filing Debate

On March 5, IREN expanded its at-the-market equity program to $6 billion. Short-seller Jim Chanos questioned the move on X, flagging the company’s silence on its $500 million near-term digital revenue ARR target. “These deals are uneconomic,” Chanos wrote.

The Bull Case

EMJ Capital‘s Eric Jackson pushed back, comparing IREN’s strategy to Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). “The market sees dilution. I see infrastructure,” he wrote, citing IREN’s $9.7 billion Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) deal using under 10% of total power capacity.

Technical Analysis

Currently, IREN is trading at $40.34, which places it 0.7% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) but 14.4% below its 100-day SMA.

Over the past 12 months, the stock has surged an impressive 491.28%, despite recent fluctuations.

The Relative Strength Index stands at 42.86, suggesting neutral momentum.

Earnings & Analyst Outlook

Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the May 13 earnings report.

Here’s what to expect:

• EPS Estimate: Loss of 23 cents (Down from 11 cents YoY)
• Revenue Estimate: $218.76 million (Up from $148.10 million YoY)
• Valuation: P/E of 26.5x (Indicates premium valuation)

The stock carries a Buy Rating with an average price target of $52.67. Recent analyst moves include:

• Canaccord Genuity: Buy (Maintains Target to $70.00) (Feb. 10)
• Macquarie: Outperform (Lowers Target to $70.00) (Feb. 6)

IREN Price Action: Iren shares were up 8.55% at $41.38 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo by T. Schneider via Shutterstock