This AI infrastructure stock has soared nearly 500% in a year. Jefferies says it can go higher

Iren has exploded over the past year, but it still has room to run as the infrastructure company continues to secure deals with major artificial intelligence hyperscalers, according to Jefferies. The investment bank initiated the AI infrastructure name at buy. It also set a $79 price target on shares, implying 36% upside from Wednesday's close. "IREN has positioned itself in a unique place among AI infrastructure providers with an extraordinarily large long-term powered land bank (~6 GW) and a vertically integrated GPU cloud approach," analyst Jonathan Petersen said Wednesday in a note to clients. "Owning the land and data centers provides IREN with unique optionality to service customers from powered shells to full GPU cloud builds." Shares have surged 493% over the past 12 months. Their explosive growth comes as the secured contracts with hyperscalers such as Microsoft and Nvidia to deliver $3.1 billion in annual recurring revenue. IREN 1Y mountain IREN stock is up nearly 500% over the past year. Once a bitcoin mining company, Iren is likely to continue reaping the rewards of its "compelling strategic pivot" to a vertically integrated AI cloud provider, particularly as it strikes more deals with major AI players, according to Jefferies. A growing portfolio of high-powered deals "positions IREN as a credible competitor to CRWV and NBIS," Petersen wrote. Jefferies' call falls in line with consensus on Wall Street. …