IREN Ltd (NASDAQ:IREN) stock is up 16% to trade at $39.06, after the company hiked its 2026 year-end AI cloud annual recurring revenue (ARR) target to over $4 billion. IREN cited new customer contracts with leading AI developers as the catalyst for the upbeat revision.
The timing is perfect. The shares are set to snap a seven-day losing streak, and have finished lower in 19 of the last 22 sessions as part of the AI trade rotation. Today's rally has the stock reclaiming its year-to-date breakeven level, and bringing its 12-month gain to 103%. Heading into today, IREN's 14-Day Relative Strength Index (RSI) was deep in "oversold" territory at 30.
A short squeeze could keep the wind at the equity's back. Short interest is up 37% in the most recent reporting period, and the 76.03 million shares sold short account for 22% of the stock's total available float.
There could also be an unwinding of bearish bets in the options pits. IREN sports a 50-day put/call volume ratio of 5.88 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) that sits higher than 98% of annual readings.
Today though, the tide has turned. Over 53,000 calls have changed hands in the first half hour, volume that's triple the average intraday amount and quadruple the number of puts exchanged. The weekly 7/24 50-strike call is the most popular, while the 40-strike in the same series is also seeing new positions bought to open.
