Cipher Mining has risen by 209% this year. Is this Bitcoin mining company worth entering a position?

CIFR's stock price has risen 209.5% year-to-date, far exceeding its peers. Compare this: competitors in the same zone, CLSK has only risen 19%, RIOT has risen 36.7%, HUT has risen 80.3%—CIFR's performance directly outpaces them by an order of magnitude. Why is it so strong? Two key words: Bitcoin price rise + Black Pearl Mining Farm going into production.

Mining capacity has repeatedly broken through

In Q3, CIFR mined 629 Bitcoins, generating $72 million in revenue at the price of $114,400 at that time. Even more impressive is the production capacity — the company expanded its mining power from 423MW to 477MW, with a total hash rate reaching 23.6EH/s, exceeding expectations.

The Black Pearl Mining Farm is now the main force, with an installed capacity of 300MW. Having put 150MW into production, it has contributed 36% of the output for the quarter, with an efficiency of 13.9 joules/TH. The average efficiency of the entire fleet is 16.8 joules/TH, which is considered top-tier in the industry.

Major clients support, business boundaries are expanding

CIFR's recent big moves have attracted attention:

Amazon Web Services Collaboration: 15-year contract, Black Pearl provides 300MW of computing power, expected revenue of $5.5 billion. Delivery starts next July, rent collected in August.

Google+Fluidstack Partnership: This is more aggressive - a 168MW 10-year AI hosting contract, $3 billion in base revenue, with options to reach $7 billion over 20 years. Google also invested $1.4 billion for a 5.4% equity stake. Delivery expected before September this year.

What is the result? The AI-hosted contract has now committed $8.5 billion in lease payments. CIFR is no longer just a pure mining company; it has transformed into a computing power infrastructure provider.

But there are hidden concerns

Valuation is high: P/S ratio of 15.53, industry average of 2.54, peer CLSK is 3.21, RIOT is 7.04, HUT is 9.53. CIFR has the highest premium.

Profit pressure: Q4 consensus expects a loss of $0.10 per share (worsening by $0.04 in the last 30 days), with an annual expected loss of $0.37 per share. Although revenue looks good (Q4 +98% year-on-year growth), the depreciation of new mining machines and rising electricity costs are eating into profits.

Investment Advice: Hold

CIFR is indeed entangled with major clients and expanding capacity, but the stock price has already reflected these positives. Wait—either for the profit data to materialize or for the valuation to return to a reasonable level. Zacks gives it a #3 Rank (Hold), implying that there is no particular entry point.

In one sentence: Good company, it's expensive. Wait a bit longer.