IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) — the former Bitcoin miner now marketing itself as a vertically integrated AI cloud and data‑center operator — is ending Thanksgiving week in classic high‑beta style: still volatile, still controversial, and still very much in the market’s spotlight.
As of the Black Friday close on November 28, 2025, IREN stock finished at $47.81, down about 1.3% on the day after trading between $47.25 and $51.48 on roughly 19.6 million shares. That’s lighter than its recent average volume near 25.5 million, but still heavy by most standards. [1]
The share price now sits well below the recent 52‑week high of $76.87, yet miles above the 52‑week low of $5.13, leaving IREN up several hundred percent year‑to‑date and firmly in “story stock” territory. [2]
Here’s what changed for IREN around November 29, 2025 — and how it fits into the bigger AI‑plus‑Bitcoin narrative that’s driving the stock.
IREN stock today: price action and context
On Friday, IREN drifted lower, with MarketBeat flagging a 1.1% intraday decline to around $47.89 and volume about 23% below its average. [3]
Key trading stats as of the latest close:
- Last close: $47.81
- Intraday range (Fri): $47.25 – $51.48
- Market cap: ≈ $13.7 billion
- P/E ratio: ≈ 25x trailing earnings
- Beta: ~4.2, reflecting extreme volatility
- Balance‑sheet liquidity: quick ratio ≈ 5.5, debt‑to‑equity ≈ 0.34. [4]
Given that backdrop, Friday’s modest dip looks more like consolidation than collapse after a blistering year in which IREN’s shares have risen more than six‑fold on the back of its AI pivot and a landmark deal with Microsoft. [5]
Fresh governance news: IREN appoints KPMG as its new auditor
The most concrete corporate development hitting feeds for November 29 is a governance move:
- On November 27, 2025, IREN’s board appointed KPMG LLP as its independent registered public accounting firm, replacing Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton LLP (RCGT), which had served since May 2023. [6]
- An accompanying Form 8‑K says there were no disagreements with the outgoing auditor on accounting principles, financial disclosure, or audit procedures. [7]
- However, RCGT’s report on the year ended June 30, 2024 had carried an explanatory paragraph raising “substantial doubt” about IREN’s ability to continue as a going concern and flagged a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting — concerns that loom in the background even as the balance sheet has since strengthened. TechStock²+1
Specialist coverage on November 29 frames the KPMG switch as a signal of maturation:
- A Big Four firm fits better with a company now touting multi‑billion‑dollar AI infrastructure contracts and a 2.9‑gigawatt power portfolio across North America. TechStock²+1
- It also suggests management wants to put distance between today’s capital‑rich IREN and the era when auditors were worried about its survival and control environment.
For investors watching accounting risk and governance, this auditor upgrade is probably the most important “hard” news in the November 29 batch.
Hedge‑fund and institutional flows: Corsair and Richmond step in
The other big theme in today’s news flow is who is buying (and selling) IREN behind the scenes.
Two fresh MarketBeat filings‑driven stories detail institutional moves: [8]
- Corsair Capital Management L.P.
- Boosted its stake in IREN by 13.3% in Q2.
- Now holds 127,604 shares, worth about $1.86 million, making IREN roughly its 25th‑largest position (~0.4% of the fund).
- The same report highlights that CEO Daniel John Roberts sold 1,000,000 shares at an average price of $33.13 in September (≈$33.1 million), trimming but not eliminating a still‑large personal position. [9]
- Richmond Investment Services LLC
- Opened a new position in IREN in Q2, buying 19,022 shares worth about $277,000.
- A broader cluster of institutions — from US Bancorp to Charles Schwab’s asset‑management arm — have been modestly adding to or initiating positions. [10]
Across filings, the picture that emerges:
- Roughly 41% of IREN’s float is held by hedge funds and other institutions. TechStock²+1
- Insiders own about 5%, even after sizable share sales by both Roberts brothers earlier this year. [11]
- At least one U.S. lawmaker, Representative Cleo Fields, has disclosed multiple purchases of IREN stock in the last six months with no reported sales, according to QuiverQuant’s tracking of congressional trades. [12]
Short version: money is still moving into IREN at the institutional level, but not in a one‑way direction. Some funds are trimming or rotating out after enormous gains, while others are buying the dip and leaning into the AI‑cloud story.
The Microsoft AI cloud megadeal: the core of the bull case
Beneath all the day‑to‑day noise sits the deal that changed the trajectory of the stock: IREN’s GPU‑cloud agreement with Microsoft.
On November 3, 2025, Reuters reported that Microsoft signed a $9.7 billion, five‑year cloud deal with IREN, including access to Nvidia GB300 GPUs in large‑scale data centers. [13]
Key points from company and media summaries:
- The contract involves IREN building and operating GPU‑rich infrastructure at its 750‑megawatt Childress, Texas campus, including liquid‑cooled data centers providing about 200MW of critical IT load in the initial phase. [14]
- Microsoft is prepaying roughly 20% of the contract value, easing some of the upfront capital burden on IREN. TechStock²+1
- IREN, in turn, is entering into a $5.8 billion hardware deal with Dell Technologies to procure Nvidia GPUs and related equipment that will be deployed through 2026. [15]
- The deal can be terminated if IREN fails to deliver on deployment timelines — an important risk caveat often lost in the headlines. [16]
For the bull camp, this agreement cements IREN as a “neocloud” AI infrastructure provider rather than just another Bitcoin miner. Some research notes now model IREN’s AI cloud annual recurring revenue (ARR) reaching roughly $3.4 billion by the end of 2026, assuming the Microsoft project and other contracts ramp as planned. [17]
For skeptics, the same deal is a massive execution and financing challenge: a mid‑cap company taking on hyperscaler‑level capex, depending on a single huge customer, in a space where hardware generations age quickly.
Funding the build‑out: $1 billion zero‑coupon convertible notes
To help pay for all of this, IREN tapped debt markets in October, closing an oversubscribed $1.0 billion offering of 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2031. [18]
Headline terms from the QuiverQuant/GlobeNewswire summary:
- Principal amount: $1.0 billion, plus a fully exercised $125 million “greenshoe” option, for net proceeds of about $979 million.
- Coupon:0.00% — no cash interest, but investors receive equity‑linked upside.
- Conversion premium:42.5% above the reference share price, with an initial cap price of $120.18 on related capped‑call transactions (effectively hedging dilution up to 100% above the then‑current stock price). [19]
- Use of proceeds: part of the money goes to the capped‑call; the rest goes to general corporate purposes and working capital, effectively bolstering IREN’s firepower for AI infrastructure projects. [20]
This is classic high‑growth financing: no immediate interest hit, but future dilution risk if the stock performs well. It also reinforces why some analysts worry that IREN’s balance sheet, while currently strong, is being stretched by mega‑projects.
Earnings backdrop: record profits, messy optics
Earlier this month, IREN reported Q1 FY26 results (quarter ended September 30, 2025), and they were eye‑catching: [21]
- Revenue: $240.3 million
- Net income: $384.6 million, versus a $51.7 million loss a year earlier
- Bitcoin mining revenue: $232.9 million
- AI cloud services revenue: $7.3 million (still small but growing)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $91.7 million (≈38% margin)
24/7 Wall St described it as “record profitability”, but also noted that much of the bottom‑line strength came from unrealized gains and financial‑instrument marks, while normalized EPS was basically flat versus expectations. [22]
Zacks, in a “Bear of the Day” feature on November 7, highlighted the irony: IREN had just delivered blowout growth and a Microsoft blockbuster, yet the stock carried a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) because analyst EPS estimates had been trending lower into the quarter. They also pointed to the heavy reliance on Bitcoin‑linked gains and the massive capital demands of the AI build‑out. [23]
So the earnings picture is powerful but noisy:
- The legacy Bitcoin business still generates the bulk of revenue and cash, despite the AI narrative. [24]
- The AI side is currently more about future ARR and contracted capacity than present‑day profit.
- Reported net income is highly sensitive to crypto and derivative marks, which can reverse quickly.
Analyst sentiment: bullish overall, but wildly split
If you enjoy watching Wall Street argue with itself, IREN’s analyst grid is kind of beautiful.
Different aggregators don’t agree on the exact counts, but the pattern is consistent:
- StockAnalysis tracks around nine analysts with an overall “Buy” consensus and an average 12‑month target near $72–73, implying roughly 50% upside from the current price. Targets range from about $29 to $136, underlining how uncertain the path is. [25]
- MarketBeat shows a “Moderate Buy” consensus with 13 Buys, 3 Holds and 3 Sells and an average target around $70.43. [26]
- Recent rating and target changes include:
- BTIG: Buy, target $75
- Cantor Fitzgerald: Overweight, target $100
- Macquarie: Outperform, target $55
- Compass Point: Buy, target $105
- J.P. Morgan: Underweight, target $24–39 depending on the report. [27]
In other words: consensus bullish, conviction divided. The spread between the lowest and highest targets is enormous, which is exactly what you’d expect for a stock priced on aggressive AI‑growth assumptions and still‑volatile crypto economics.
Bitcoin and macro backdrop: still a big driver
While IREN’s branding has shifted toward “AI cloud”, its fortunes remain tightly correlated with Bitcoin and broader risk appetite.
On November 28, TS2’s market wrap noted that Bitcoin traded roughly between $90,000 and $93,000, closing around $90,700, up about 15% from last week’s panic low near $80,000 but down modestly on the day. Crypto miners and AI‑linked names like Riot, CleanSpark and IREN all traded like high‑beta proxies on that move. TechStock²
Macro‑wise, the market is still obsessing over:
- Expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts in early 2026, which help speculative assets.
- The sustainability of the current AI capex boom across hyperscalers and “neocloud” providers.
IREN sits right at the intersection of both themes — which is great when the market is excited, and brutal when it isn’t.
Fresh narrative pieces around November 29: positioning IREN as “AI cloud with crypto roots”
Alongside the hard news today, a cluster of analysis pieces and quant screens add color:
- TS2’s November 28 IREN wrap emphasizes three themes: the KPMG appointment, fund‑flow reshuffling, and ongoing AI cloud momentum, while pointing out that intraday swings remain huge even when the stock finishes only modestly up or down. TechStock²
- A Nasdaq/Validea momentum model recently gave IREN an 83% score, flagging its strong intermediate‑term price performance, despite pullbacks. TechStock²
- Seeking Alpha research this week has framed IREN as “a speculative gem in the AI cloud landscape” on one hand, and a case study in “when large AI infrastructure projects meet a small‑scale balance sheet” on the other — effectively capturing the split personality of the stock. [28]
Taken together, the narrative is evolving from “Bitcoin miner with an AI call option” toward “AI infrastructure play still handcuffed to Bitcoin and capital markets.”
Key risks highlighted by the latest news
The November 29 news flow doesn’t introduce new existential risks, but it does sharpen several familiar ones:
- Execution risk on mega‑projects
IREN is promising to deploy tens of billions in AI compute capacity across Microsoft and other customers in just a few years. Missing milestones could jeopardize contracts or trigger renegotiations. [29] - Financing and dilution risk
The zero‑coupon convertible notes and heavy capex mean future equity dilution is likely if the stock works — and refinancing risk appears if it doesn’t. [30] - Concentration risk
Microsoft is a fantastic customer to have, but it’s also an enormous single‑customer dependency. Any strategic shift on Microsoft’s side would matter a lot to IREN. [31] - Crypto and macro exposure
Despite the AI pivot, IREN’s cash engine is still Bitcoin mining, and profitability remains leveraged to BTC prices, power costs and regulatory regimes around digital assets and data centers. [32] - Governance and controls legacy
The switch to KPMG is a positive signal, but the history of going‑concern language and internal‑control weaknesses is not erased overnight. Investors will be watching future KPMG reports closely. TechStock²+1
What all this means for IREN stock as of November 29, 2025
Putting the day’s headlines together:
- Governance: The KPMG appointment is the standout structural news — it suggests IREN wants to look and operate more like a mature, large‑scale infrastructure provider and less like a scrappy crypto miner with accounting baggage.
- Ownership: Hedge‑fund moves (Corsair’s increased stake, Richmond’s new position) and ongoing insider holdings show sophisticated investors are actively repricing IREN, not abandoning it. The flows are mixed but generally constructive, not panicked. [33]
- Story anchor: The $9.7 billion Microsoft deal and record Q1 profitability remain the gravitational center of the IREN thesis — but they also magnify the consequences if execution or demand disappoint. [34]
- Valuation and sentiment: With the stock trading around $48 and the average 12‑month target sitting in the low‑to‑mid‑70s, the market is effectively pricing in strong growth but not perfection. The wide dispersion in targets and the presence of both Buy and Sell ratings underline just how binary the long‑term outcomes could be. [35]
For anyone following IREN into December, today’s news doesn’t rewrite the story. Instead, it tightens the frame:
- A company once flagged for going‑concern issues now has a Big Four auditor, billions in convertible dry powder, and a hyperscaler as its anchor customer.
- The same company still rides the Bitcoin rollercoaster, carries a 4‑plus beta, and is promising a multi‑year AI ramp that will require flawless execution.
It’s an unusually pure expression of the 2025 market: AI, crypto, leverage, and governance all welded into one very volatile ticker.
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. www.marketbeat.com, 3. www.marketbeat.com, 4. www.marketbeat.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.stockinsights.ai, 7. www.stockinsights.ai, 8. www.marketbeat.com, 9. www.marketbeat.com, 10. www.marketbeat.com, 11. www.marketbeat.com, 12. www.quiverquant.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. www.reuters.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. 247wallst.com, 18. www.quiverquant.com, 19. www.quiverquant.com, 20. www.quiverquant.com, 21. 247wallst.com, 22. 247wallst.com, 23. www.nasdaq.com, 24. 247wallst.com, 25. stockanalysis.com, 26. www.marketbeat.com, 27. www.quiverquant.com, 28. seekingalpha.com, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.quiverquant.com, 31. www.reuters.com, 32. 247wallst.com, 33. www.marketbeat.com, 34. www.reuters.com, 35. stockanalysis.com
