Benchmark Boosts Bitcoin Miner Maker Canaan’s Stock Target, Praising ‘Turnaround Story’

Benchmark investment bank raised Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan target price at $4, citing the company’s recent Nasdaq compliance announcement and demand for the company’s devices.

Nasdaq notified Canaan last week that it had reached the minimum offer price of $1 per share so that it would not be at risk of delisting. The company’s shares have been trading above that level since October.

Equity research analyst Mark Palmer also said that Canaan’s Avalon line of Bitcoin mining equipment is gaining popularity.

“The company has steadily gained popularity with these machines, attracting miners looking for improved efficiency, reliability and cost competitiveness,” he wrote.

He added: “We also believe yesterday’s broad sell-off in crypto-related stocks presents an attractive opportunity for investors to gain exposure to the company’s accelerating turnaround story through its very cheap stock, which trades at just 0.8x FY27E EV/sale.”

Palmer further added that the company’s strong balance sheet of 1,582 Bitcoins and 2,830 Ethereums—a total of over $186 million—was “a record” and another reason for the price target.

Benchmark previously gave the Singapore-based company a price target of $2 per share.

Canaan shares traded 5.6% higher on Thursday; reaching $4 per share would mean it would have to jump about 118% from its current price of $1.80. Canaan’s share price has fallen nearly 19% since the beginning of the year.

Miners, who earn Bitcoin for verifying transactions on the blockchain, have had to deal with rising costs and declining rewards. Last year’s halving reduced the amount of BTC miners could earn from 6.25 to 3.125. In this more challenging landscape, many miners have begun to focus more on high-performance computing, which is an integral part of artificial intelligence.

Investors positively evaluated this trend. Google last month announced backed a deal between computational intelligence firm Fluidstack and Bitcoin miner Cipher, giving Google the right to buy a 5.4% stake in Cipher.

Earlier this month, Canaan announced that it received the largest order in three years: more than 50,000 Avalon A15 Pro Bitcoin mining machinery from an unnamed American buyer. The computers represent Canaan’s latest generation mining hardware, designed to offer what the company described as industry-leading efficiency and reliability—critical factors as energy costs increasingly determine mining profitability.

Bitcoin recently traded at around $110,340, up 1.7% in the last 24 hours, although BTC has fallen more than 8% in the past month.