Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) Cut to Market Perform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $25.00 target price on the stock.

CORZ has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $30.00 price target on Core Scientific in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Core Scientific from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Core Scientific from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Lucid Cap Mkts raised Core Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Core Scientific in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.43.

Core Scientific Stock Down 12.7%

Shares of Core Scientific stock opened at $18.12 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10 and a beta of 5.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.22 and its 200 day moving average is $20.78. Core Scientific has a twelve month low of $12.60 and a twelve month high of $30.46.

Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported ($3.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($3.26). The company had revenue of $164.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.83 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Core Scientific will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Core Scientific

In other news, insider Todd M. Duchene sold 10,000 shares of Core Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.95, for a total transaction of $209,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,989,101 shares in the company, valued at $41,671,665.95. This trade represents a 0.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 90,000 shares of company stock worth $2,234,900. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Scientific

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CORZ. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Core Scientific by 0.7% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 94,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Core Scientific by 34.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Core Scientific in the second quarter worth about $264,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Core Scientific in the second quarter worth about $136,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Core Scientific during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000.

Key Stories Impacting Core Scientific

Here are the key news stories impacting Core Scientific this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AMD partnership strengthens Core Scientific’s AI data-center strategy. AMD agreed to secure up to 2.5 gigawatts of capacity for AI deployments, including approximately 530 megawatts covered by 15-year agreements across five sites. Core Scientific said the initial contracts represent roughly $14 billion in potential base revenue, although the figure depends on successful development and deployment. Reuters AMD infrastructure partnership article
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related colocation growth is rapidly changing the company’s revenue mix. Second-quarter revenue was $164.2 million, ahead of expectations, with colocation revenue rising to $136.7 million from $10.6 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was reported at $41.1 million, supporting the view that Core Scientific is becoming less dependent on cryptocurrency mining. Core Scientific second-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish. Canaccord raised its price target to $36 and maintained a Buy rating. Needham and BTIG also reaffirmed Buy ratings with targets of $29 and $38, respectively. Core Scientific additionally appointed technology executive Mark W. Adams to its seven-member board, adding AI and semiconductor-sector experience. Core Scientific board appointment
• Neutral Sentiment: Trading activity indicates continued speculation. Call-option volume was about 55% above its typical level, reflecting bullish positioning but also elevated risk. The AMD transaction includes warrants for up to 30 million CORZ shares at $23.47, which could help fund expansion but may dilute existing shareholders.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported profitability and execution risks are weighing on sentiment. Core Scientific posted a $3.32-per-share GAAP loss, substantially below consensus, despite strong revenue. The loss was largely attributed to noncash warrant fair-value adjustments, while quarterly capital expenditures reached approximately $797.5 million for site conversions. KBW lowered its rating to Market Perform. Insider Todd Duchene also sold 10,000 shares on July 20 and another 10,000 shares on July 27, though the transactions reduced his stake by only about 1% in total.

Core Scientific Company Profile

Core Scientific, Inc (NASDAQ: CORZ) is a leading provider of large-scale blockchain infrastructure and digital asset mining services. The company develops, owns and operates high-performance data centers optimized for the mining of Bitcoin and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. In addition to its core mining operations, Core Scientific offers colocation, hosting and managed services designed to support institutional clients and enterprise users in deploying and scaling blockchain nodes and computing hardware.

Core Scientific’s service portfolio includes hardware procurement, deployment and maintenance, real-time monitoring, power management and network connectivity.