RIOT Stock Gains After ‘Transformational’ Anthropic Deal Wins Wall Street Confidence

• Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is the customer behind the deal, although Riot identified it only as a “leading frontier AI” company.
• Cantor Fitzgerald, Bernstein, Piper Sandler, Citi and H.C. Wainwright all raised their price targets following the announcement.
• Bernstein said the new contracts provide a clearer path toward monetizing Riot’s data center assets.

Shares of Riot Platforms (RIOT) jumped in pre-market trade on Monday after the company announced a 20-year, $9.1 billion deal with a “frontier AI lab,” reported to be Anthropic, winning Wall Street’s confidence. 

H.C. Wainwright posted the largest increase, raising its target to $40 from $25 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating, according to TheFly. Citi also increased its price target to $32 from $28 and kept a ‘Buy’ rating. 

H.C. Wainwright analyst Mike Colonnese said the company "delivered on the two key proof points investors were focused on" coming into the earnings print. One was the signing of another large-scale AI data center contract beyond AMD and "tangible" leasing progress at its Corsicana campus.

Meanwhile, Citi described Riot’s second-quarter (Q2) results and the new agreement as "transformational," saying the company is building one of the more compelling contracted data center platforms in the sector.

RIOT stock rallied as much as 15% in pre-market trade and was among the top trending tickers on the platform. Retail sentiment around RIOT shares improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ over the past day, and chatter increased to ‘high’ from ‘normal’ levels. 

Riot Lands $9.1B AI Data Center Deal

Cantor Fitzgerald said Riot’s delayed Q2 results ultimately delivered two important developments – the $9.1 billion AI lease at the Rockdale campus in Texas and a letter of intent covering the company's full 1 GW Corsicana site.

Anthropic was not named by Riot in its announcement, which identified the customer only as a “leading frontier AI” company. Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is the customer, citing people familiar with the matter.

Riot said the agreement is expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in total contract revenue over its 20-year term. The 191 MW of capacity will be delivered in two phases. Riot expects to deliver 96 IT MW in December 2027, followed by another 95 IT MW in June 2028.

The company also stated that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with a single tenant covering the site's full 1 GW capacity.

Wall Street Raises RIOT Price Targets

Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $30 from $23 and maintained an ‘Overweight’ rating on RIOT’s stock. The firm said the Corsicana agreement could create significant additional upside if Riot secures a contract on terms similar to the Rockdale deal.

Bernstein lifted its target to $35 from $30 and kept an ‘Outperform’ rating, while Piper Sandler raised its target to $25 from $23 and maintained an ‘Overweight’ outlook.

The agreement gives Riot a long-term contracted revenue stream from its data center infrastructure and represents another step in the company's shift beyond Bitcoin (BTC) mining toward AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Bitcoin’s price fell 0.9% in the last 24 hours, falling below the $65,000 mark yet again after Michael Saylor-backed Strategy (MSTR) sold over $100 million of BTC from its stash over the past week.

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