Benchmark raises Hut 8’s target price by 18% again, bullish on its “power-first” data center model

PANews July 23, citing The Block, Benchmark raised its Hut 8 target price from $165 to $195. Previously, the company’s Texas Beacon Point AI campus had been fully commercialized. This is Benchmark’s second upward adjustment to its Hut 8 target price this month—last week it was raised from $85 to $165. Hut 8’s stock price closed on Wednesday at about $111, up nearly 120% year-to-date. The new target price implies about 75% upside.

On Monday this week, Hut 8 announced that it signed a second 15-year lease worth $9.8 billion with existing tenants at the campus, doubling Beacon Point’s contract capacity to 704 MW, bringing the total contract value of the 1GW campus to $19.6 billion. Analyst Mark Palmer said the deal further validates Hut 8’s “lock in power and site-matching tenants first, then finance the build” model, adding that it has become a “data center real estate investment trust (REIT) with power resources as the core asset.” Benchmark’s valuation also factors in the 10,278 BTC (about $680 million) Hut 8 holds and its 60% equity stake in American Bitcoin.