Contrasting Iris Energy (NASDAQ:IREN) and Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Cipher Mining and Iris Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	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 price target of $8.25, suggesting a potential upside of 82.93%. Iris Energy has a consensus price target of $19.50, suggesting a potential upside of 93.26%. Given Iris Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Iris Energy is more favorable than Cipher Mining.

Institutional and 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 21.5% of Iris Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Cipher Mining has a beta of 2.38, meaning that its share price is 138% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Iris Energy has a beta of 3.62, meaning that its share price is 262% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cipher Mining	$152.47 million	10.29	-$25.78 million	($0.13)	-34.69
Iris Energy	$208.75 million	9.08	-$28.95 million	N/A	N/A

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

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	-36.10%	-8.01%	-7.37%

Summary

Cipher Mining beats Iris Energy on 7 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.