Comparing Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) & Iris Energy (NASDAQ:IREN)

Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) and Iris Energy (NASDAQ:IREN) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Cipher Mining and Iris Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cipher Mining	0	0	10	2	3.17
Iris Energy	0	2	9	1	2.92

Cipher Mining currently has a consensus target price of $8.14, indicating a potential upside of 48.25%. Iris Energy has a consensus target price of $20.70, indicating a potential upside of 90.26%. Given Iris Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Iris Energy is more favorable than Cipher Mining.

Risk and Volatility

Cipher Mining has a beta of 2.41, meaning that its share price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Iris Energy has a beta of 3.6, meaning that its share price is 260% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cipher Mining and Iris Energy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cipher Mining	$126.84 million	15.05	-$25.78 million	($0.13)	-42.23
Iris Energy	$188.76 million	10.83	-$28.95 million	N/A	N/A

Cipher Mining has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Iris Energy.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of Iris Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.6% of Iris Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Cipher Mining and Iris Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cipher Mining	-33.39%	-8.29%	-7.29%
Iris Energy	-17.94%	-3.98%	-3.33%

Summary

Iris Energy beats Cipher Mining on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cipher Mining

Cipher Mining Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and operation of industrial scale bitcoin mining data centers in the United States. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Cipher Mining Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bitfury Holding B.V.

About Iris Energy

Iris Energy Limited owns and operates bitcoin mining data centers. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.