Why Iren Stock Plummeted by Nearly 10% on Friday

Key Points

• An analyst changed his recommendation on the stock.

• He now feels it's worthy only of a sell.

• 10 stocks we like better than Iren ›

Although the performance of stocks never depends entirely on the opinions of analysts, those market professionals can have quite an impact at times. More than once this week, crypto mining company Iren (NASDAQ: IREN) experienced that dynamic.

Unfortunately, on Friday, this turned negative for the stock, and it lost almost 10% of its value. This occurred on a day for stocks that was broadly positive, with the benchmark S&P 500 index creeping up by 0.6%.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Downward adjustment

That's because the day's analyst take wasn't positive. It came from Reginald Smith of JPMorgan Chase's corporate and investment banking unit, J.P. Morgan. Smith downgraded his recommendation on Iren from neutral to underweight (sell, in other words). He also cut his price target rather assertively, reducing it to $16 per share from his preceding $24.

Image source: Getty Images.

Worse, the pundit's move was part of a broader analysis of Bitcoin mining stocks, in which he highlighted titles he feels have more potential.

In that report, Smith upgraded Riot Platforms to overweight (buy). He enacted another downgrade with CleanSpark; however, he only knocked this down to a neutral designation. This only served to highlight the new sell tag on the formerly neutral Iren.

Inflated expectations?

According to reports, the analyst's change of sentiment on Iren is due to expectations for the company's future expansion. He feels that the stock has priced in a large colocation deal which, if realized in the expected scope and scale, would set new records in the industry -- particularly for capital expenditures.

Should you invest $1,000 in Iren right now?

Before you buy stock in Iren, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Iren wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $651,593!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,089,215!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,058% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 188% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 22, 2025

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Eric Volkman has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.