Benchmark Equity Research raised its price target for Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) to $165 from $85, citing the company’s commercialization of its Beacon Point AI data center campus and $16.8 billion in contracted value across two AI infrastructure leases.
Hut 8 shares were trading at around $97 on Tuesday, according to The Block's HUT price page. Benchmark’s revised target implies roughly 69% upside from that trading level, even as the stock has experienced a decline of nearly 30% over the last six weeks.
In a note to clients, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer said the commercialization of Hut 8's 1,000 MW Beacon Point campus in Texas "changes the math" for the company by increasing the value of the project.
He noted that the site was originally developed around ASIC computing before being repositioned for AI, with Phase 1 redesigned to support 352 MW of IT capacity, up 57% from the original 224 MW plan.
The Phase 1 lease at Beacon Point carries $9.8 billion in base-term value and approximately $655 million in expected average annualized net operating income. That contract, combined with the $7 billion River Bend lease with Fluidstack and a Google backstop, brings the company's total base-term lease value to $16.8 billion. The aggregate value could rise to $42.8 billion if tenants exercise embedded five-year renewal options across both sites, according to the note.
