Benchmark Equity Research raised its price target for Hut 8 (HUT) to $195 from $165 on Wednesday, driven by the full commercialization of the company's Beacon Point AI campus in Nueces County, Texas. The move marks the second target increase for the crypto mining and data center firm this month; analyst Mark Palmer had lifted the target from $85 to $165 just a week earlier after factoring in the campus's first lease.
The latest upgrade comes after Hut 8 signed a second 15‑year, $9.8 billion lease agreement with the existing tenant on Monday, doubling contracted capacity at Beacon Point to 704 megawatts. With this deal, the 1‑gigawatt campus now carries a total contract value of $19.6 billion. The second lease alone is expected to generate $9.8 billion in operating income over its life—roughly $655 million annually—while the two phases combined are projected to produce an average annual net operating income of $1.31 billion.
Palmer emphasized the speed of execution: Hut 8 moved Beacon Point from its first lease to full commercialization in just a few months, fully leasing the site before it was even energized. He described the model as a “power‑first data center REIT with an embedded development machine,” where the company secures power, signs a tenant, and then finances construction. The second lease further validates this repeatable strategy.
Benchmark’s valuation also incorporates Hut 8’s 10,278 bitcoin (worth nearly $680 million) and its 60% stake in American Bitcoin (ABTC). HUT shares were trading around $111 on Wednesday afternoon, up 2% on the day and nearly 120% year‑to‑date, leaving a roughly 75% upside to the new target. Benchmark maintains a Buy rating on the stock.
