Benzinga - Riot Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) shares are trading higher Wednesday on the back of an upgrade from JPMorgan.
What Happened: JPMorgan analyst Reginald Smith upgraded Riot Platforms from a Neutral rating to an Overweight rating and set a price target of $15.
Smith highlighted Riot’s "unique combination of industry-leading power contracts, scale and liquidity” and noted that Riot stock offers the most relative upside compared to the other popular bitcoin mining stocks.
The JPMorgan analyst also pointed to the company’s growing hashrate and mining expansion plans. Smith believes Riot could reach a hashrate of 31.5 EH/s by the end of the year.
Check This Out: Analyst Upgrades Riot For ‘Best Relative Upside’; Foresees 134% Growth For Another Bitcoin Mining Stock
The upgrade comes with Riot shares down approximately 25% over the last month. The broader crypto space got a boost from increased demand following the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January, but the ETFs reportedly saw their largest single-day outflows this week as bitcoin pulled back from its highs.
April's halving event is being viewed as the next potential catalyst for the crypto market. It’s also likely to raise the volatility in mining stocks as miner rewards are set to be cut in half.
Riot Blockchain is focused on building, supporting and operating blockchain technologies with a vision to become the leading bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.
RIOT Price Action: Riot Platform shares were up 4.28% at $11.55 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.
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