CleanSpark's AI Expansion Progresses: Are Revenues Still Far Away?

Core Insights - CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK) is advancing its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, but the immediate revenue impact is limited as Bitcoin mining remains the primary revenue source [1][9] Group 1: AI and HPC Expansion - CleanSpark has secured over 1.3 gigawatts of power capacity and identified land opportunities in Georgia and Texas to support its AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data center initiatives [2] - The company has partnered with Submer to enhance deployment using liquid-cooled, modular data center solutions [2] - Monetization of AI initiatives is expected to be delayed, with initial deployments at the Texas AI campus not anticipated until the first half of 2027 [3] Group 2: Financial Projections and Competition - Construction costs for AI data centers are estimated at around $10 million per megawatt, which may pressure near-term cash generation [4] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 revenues indicates a year-over-year growth of 12.1%, while fiscal 2027 suggests a decline of 7.7% [4] - Cipher Mining (CIFR) is emerging as a strong competitor, having secured a 15-year, 300 MW campus lease with Amazon Web Services valued at approximately $5.5 billion [5] - IREN Limited (IREN) is also intensifying competition with a $9.7 billion AI cloud agreement with Microsoft and plans to deploy 140,000 graphics processing units by 2026 [6] Group 3: Share Price and Valuation - CleanSpark's shares have increased by 16.4% over the past year, outperforming the Zacks Finance – Miscellaneous Services industry, which declined by 4.2% [7] - The company trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.25, which is lower than the sector's average of 9.08 [10] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CleanSpark's fiscal 2026 earnings is currently pegged at 26 cents per share, reflecting a year-over-year decline of 63.4% [13]