IREN Limited’s IREN will now report fiscal 2026 results on Aug. 27, after market close, giving investors a view of how quickly its business is shifting from Bitcoin mining toward AI cloud. The March-end quarter showed that transition clearly: revenues fell to $144.8 million, while AI cloud revenue nearly doubled sequentially to $33.6 million.

The biggest number to watch is AI cloud growth. IREN raised its year-end 2026 annualized run-rate revenue target from $3.7 billion to more than $4 billion after signing $2.8 billion of new multi-year contracts. About 85% of that target is already contracted, making deployment and customer acceptance important.

Execution at Childress will matter just as much as bookings. Horizon 1, the first of four 50MW liquid-cooled deployments for Microsoft, has been delivered and accepted under a five-year, $9.7 billion cloud services contract. Investors should watch the timing of Horizons 2-4 and progress toward 480MW of 2026 AI cloud capacity.

The earnings mix is another key issue. In the March-end quarter, Bitcoin mining revenue dropped to $111.2 million from $167.4 million in the prior quarter as mining hardware was decommissioned, while adjusted EBITDA fell to $59.5 million. The upcoming earnings report should show whether faster AI revenue is starting to offset that decline.

Funding remains central to the expansion plan. IREN reported about $7.6 billion of cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, including $1.7 billion of restricted cash tied to Microsoft GPU financing. Recent customer prepayments covered roughly 45% of associated GPU capital expenditure, which could reduce the company’s net funding needs.

IREN vs. Peers: Who Leads the AI Data Center Race?

Applied Digital Corporation APLD offers investors another useful AI-infrastructure read-through. Applied Digital posted fiscal fourth-quarter revenues of $258.7 million, up 407% year over year, while adjusted EBITDA reached $42.4 million. Applied Digital also signed a 15-year, 300MW hyperscaler lease worth about $7.5 billion, keeping new-capacity delivery and financing firmly in focus ahead. 

Cipher Digital Inc. CIFR is making a similar shift from Bitcoin mining toward high-performance computing. Cipher Digital posted second-quarter 2026 revenues of $25 million and adjusted EBITDA of negative $30 million. Cipher Digital also began Black Pearl rent in August, two months early, making data-center delivery, HPC leasing, and project financing investor watchpoints.

IREN’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of IREN have declined 25% over the past three months, underperforming the broader industry and the S&P 500 composite. 

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In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales (P/S), IREN is currently trading at 4.32X, which is at a premium to the industry average of 2.58X.

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Estimates for IREN’s 2026 and 2027 earnings have been revised downward in the past 30 days. However, the company is expected to report a profit next year. 

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Currently, IREN carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is Here

The AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.

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