Iris Energy IREN Shares Rise After Appointing Morgan Stanley to Advise on AI Monetization Opportunities

Iris Energy provided a business update on Tuesday showing that it appointed Morgan Stanley as a financial advisor as it evaluates opportunities in the AI data center market.

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Iris Energy (NASDAQ:IREN) stock is rising higher on Tuesday after the company announced the appointment of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) as a financial advisor.

What Happened: Iris Energy, a company that mines bitcoin and provides data center services for artificial intelligence (AI), announced the appointment of Morgan Stanley in a statement on Tuesday.

The news comes as Iris Energy shares are down about 7% over the last week following a short report from Culper Research. The stock fell more than 13% last week after Culper argued shares were significantly overvalued.

A spokesperson for Iren (NASDAQ:IREN) responded to the report by saying, “As a public company we are limited in how much we can say about reports of a certain nature. We encourage debate and value intellectually honest discourse. However, not all engagement meets these standards.”

“We remain focused on our growth to 30 EH/s of mining capacity this year, serving our AI cloud service customers, and pursuing monetization opportunities for our broader power and land portfolio," the spokesperson added.

Culper said in its report that shares of Iris Energy are trading at more than 100 times earnings and that the company’s bitcoin mining ventures are being overvalued.

“At best, IREN is a speculative bitcoin miner with a bitcoin mining equipment leasing business and an early-stage AI data center operator, all of which are being valued at a steep premium,” Culper said in its report.

“At worst, IREN is a bitcoin miner with no bitcoin left, masquerading as an AI data center operator with no customers, to avoid having to mark its bitcoin mining equipment to the distressed market prices.”

Culper also accused Iris Energy of misleading investors and said the company’s shares could fall to less than $2.

Related Link: Iris Energy’s Bitcoin Mining Ventures: Overvalued Or Underestimated?

A financial advisor was appointed by bitcoin miner Iris Energy to help evaluate opportunities in the AI data center market.

Keep Reading: Culper Research Accuses Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy Of Misleading Investors, Shares Drop

After announcing its 2024 expansion was fully funded at the beginning of the month, Iris Energy provided a business update. The company highlighted its cash position of $425.3 million and zero debt, adding that it has an additional cash buffer that can provide flexibility related to procurement items for its 2025 expansion and beyond.

Iris Energy mined 233 bitcoin in June, up from 230 mined in May. The company also noted at the beginning of the month that its 21% revenue jump in June reflected higher utilization of its GPU fleet and onboarding of new customers.

IREN Price Action: At the time of publication, Iris Energy shares were up 3.21% at $12.38, according to Benzinga Pro.

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