In a analysis notice launched late Thursday, Cantor Fitzgerald says Core Scientific (CORZ) may fetch over $30 per share in a possible acquisition by cloud compute big CoreWeave, citing each the long-term money flows from its AI contracts and the alternative worth of its information facilities.
That may be a close to doubling from the present degree simply above $16.
The notice got here hours after The Wall Avenue Journal reported that CoreWeave, a cloud AI compute agency, is as soon as once more in superior talks to accumulate Core Scientific, following a failed $5.75 per share supply in 2024.
CORZ shares jumped 33% to shut over $16 Thursday, however Cantor believes that it nonetheless undervalues the corporate by at the least 50%.
On the coronary heart of the bull case is a 12-year, $3.5 billion infrastructure lease Core Scientific signed with CoreWeave in 2024 to supply 200 megawatts of AI capability.
Cantor values the lease stream at $24/share, utilizing a conservative 15x revenue a number of typical for conventional information middle REITs. Add one other $11.70/share for the alternative worth of CORZ’s 570MW of energy infrastructure, and the upside case turns into clear.
The BTC – AI Pivot
However it’s not simply Cantor arguing that the compute energy used for crunching numbers to mine BTC is perhaps extra effectively used for AI.
Rittenhouse Analysis, a brand new fintech and AI-focused agency, launched a report in Could arguing that essentially the most profitable crypto corporations aren’t doubling down on bitcoin. As an alternative, they’re pivoting to change into AI infrastructure suppliers.
When Galaxy Digital purchased the Helios information middle in late 2022, it appeared like a rescue of a struggling miner, but it turned out to be a strategic AI asset as demand for information middle house surged with the rise of ChatGPT and LLMs, Rittenhouse identified.
“The infrastructure used to mine digital gold is better used to process AI algorithms,” Rittenhouse wrote on the time.
On the core of the argument is the assumption that AI generates secure, long-term money flows, not like BTC mining, which is topic to sharp income drops each 4 years on account of halvings and is closely depending on bitcoin’s unstable worth cycles.
The long run profitability of BTC mining, Rittenhouse famous, can also be depending on mining corporations with the ability to design chips which might be considerably extra environment friendly every cycle to account for the halvening, an more and more troublesome process as positive factors from silicon shrinkage start to plateau.
However Not Each Pivot Away from BTC is Profitable
Whereas Cantor, and the market broadly, is trying fondly on Core Scientific’s doable pivot, not all pivots away from BTC mining have gone this effectively.
As CoinDesk lately reported, Bit Digital is dumping its bitcoin rigs to go all-in on Ethereum staking, and the market pushed down its inventory by 15% throughout the Thursday buying and selling session in New York.
Canaan, as soon as hoping to diversify into AI {hardware}, has now shuttered its chip unit fully after failing to realize traction. Its inventory is down practically 75% within the final six months, and closed at 63 cents on Thursday.
However Core Scientific may need discovered the center path, leveraging its mining-built footprint to faucet right into a $100 billion-plus AI infrastructure growth.
If Cantor’s thesis proves proper, CoreWeave’s second supply for CORZ may look very completely different from the one they made final yr, and it may mark a brand new blueprint for the remainder of the sector.
Neither CoreWeave nor Core Scientific has publicly commented on the matter.
