Cipher Mining Surges 209% Year to Date: Buy, Sell, or Hold the Stock?

Cipher Mining CIFR shares have skyrocketed 209.5% in the year-to-date period, outperforming the Zacks Technology Services industry’s increase of 19.5%. The broader Zacks Business Services sector declined 10.5% in the same time frame.

The company's shares have also outperformed its closest peers, including Cleanspark CLSK, Riot Platforms RIOT, and Hut8 Corp. HUT, which are also expanding their footprint in the bitcoin mining industry. Cleanspark, Riot Platforms, and Hut8 shares have soared 19%, 36.7% and 80.3% respectively, in the year-to-date period.

The outperformance can primarily be attributed to higher bitcoin prices and increased production from the Black Pearl facility. The company mined 629 bitcoins in the third quarter of 2025, generating $72 million in revenues at an average price of $114,400 per bitcoin.

CIFR Stock's Performance

CIFR Benefits From Growing Bitcoin Mining Portfolio

Cipher Mining’s expansion of its Bitcoin mining portfolio has been noteworthy. In the third quarter of 2025, CIFR increased its mining capacity from 423 megawatts to 477 megawatts across its five mining sites, which include Odessa, Alborz, Bear, Chief, and Black Pearl. This expansion exceeded previous hash rate projections.

In the third quarter of 2025, the company reached a total self-mining hash rate of about 23.6 exahash per second, exceeding expectations. This positions Cipher as one of the most efficient miners in the industry, with a fleet efficiency of 16.8 joules per terahash.

The Black Pearl site became fully operational in the third quarter of 2025, contributing significantly to the company’s mining capacity. The first 150 megawatts of the 300-megawatt site are currently mining approximately 10.1 exahash per second, accounting for 36% of production in the quarter. The fleet efficiency at Black Pearl stands at an impressive 13.9 joules per terahash.

CIFR Benefits From Expanding Clientele

Cipher Mining is benefiting from an expanding clientele, which includes the likes of Amazon’s cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Fluidstack, and Google. These partnerships have solidified CIFR’s credibility in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector.

In the third quarter of 2025, CIFR signed a 15-year Data Center Campus Lease with Amazon Web Services. This lease will provide 300 megawatts of HPC capacity at its Black Pearl site. The deal is expected to generate approximately $5.5 billion in contract revenue over the initial term. The capacity will be delivered in two phases, starting in July 2026 and completing in the fourth quarter 2026, with rent commencing in August 2026.

Further expanding its portfolio in the HPC space, Cipher Mining announced a transformative 10-year, 168 critical IT megawatt AI Hosting Agreement with Fluidstack and Google at its Barber Lake site in Colorado City, TX. 

Under the contract, Cipher Mining will deliver 168 megawatts of critical IT load supported by up to 244 megawatts of total capacity. The project is expected to generate approximately $3 billion in contracted revenues over the initial 10-year term, with options to extend the total contract value to roughly $7 billion over 20 years. Additionally, Google is backstopping $1.4 billion of Fluidstack’s obligations and will receive a 5.4% equity stake in Cipher Mining.  Construction is underway, with delivery expected by September 2026.

As a result of these major agreements in the third quarter of 2025, CIFR announced that AI hosting contracts represent approximately $8.5 billion in lease payments.

CIFR’s Earnings Estimates Show Mixed Trend

Cipher Mining’s robust bitcoin mining portfolio and expanding clientele are expected to benefit its topline. However, fluctuations in Bitcoin prices might affect production and financial performance.

For the fourth quarter of 2025, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for loss is pegged at 10 cents per share, which has widened by 4 cents over the past 30 days. CIFR reported earnings of 6 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter 2025 revenues is pegged at $83.63 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 98.09%.

For 2025, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for loss is pegged at 37 cents per share, which has widened by a penny over the past 30 days. CIFR reported a loss of 14 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 revenues is pegged at $268.27 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 64.12%.

Cipher Mining Inc. Price and Consensus

Cipher Mining Inc. price-consensus-chart | Cipher Mining Inc. Quote

CIFR Stock Is Overvalued

Cipher Mining shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by its Value Score of F.

In terms of the forward 12-month Price/Sales ratio, CIFR is trading at 15.53, higher than the Technology Services industry’s 2.54X. The company’s 12-month Price/Sales ratio is also higher than that of Cleanspark, Riot Platforms, and Hut8’s 3.21X, 7.04X, and 9.53X, respectively.

Price/Sales (F12M)

What Should Investors Do With CIFR Stock?

Despite a robust bitcoin mining portfolio and an expanding clientele, the company’s higher depreciation expenses from new mining rigs and upgrades at Odessa, along with increased electricity costs due to network hash rate growth, could affect profitability. Stretched valuation also remains a concern.

Cipher Mining currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which implies investors should wait for a more favorable point to accumulate the stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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