TeraWulf Inc. shares rose 12.80% during the regular session to close at $22.83, adding to a 2.06% after-hours gain to $23.30, following Morgan Stanley's decision to maintain an Overweight rating and raise its price target to $72 from $66.5. The revised target reflects confidence in a landmark $19 billion lease agreement with Anthropic. The stock's surge was accompanied by elevated trading volume, reaching 42.87 million shares compared to an average daily volume of 31.21 million shares. At the time of publication on Thursday, shares were up 2.43% at $23.39.

The Anthropic Deal

On Monday, TeraWulf announced a 20-year lease agreement with Anthropic at its Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky. This transaction is expected to generate approximately $19 billion of contracted revenue over the initial lease term. The campus is designed to support about 401 megawatts of critical IT load, with initial capacity expected online in the second half of 2027 and full capacity by early 2028.

Strategic Transactions

Separately, TeraWulf entered into a definitive agreement to sell its 50.1% ownership interest in the Abernathy Joint Venture to an investor group led by its joint venture partner, Fluidstack. This transaction monetizes TeraWulf's approximately $450 million investment at a premium to invested capital, unlocking capital for redeployment into wholly owned AI infrastructure opportunities.

Market Performance and Analyst Reactions

Wall Street responded swiftly to the developments. Needham analyst John Todaro raised his price target to $33 from $28, and Rosenblatt Securities analyst Chris Brendler raised his target to $30 from $27, both reiterating Buy ratings. The stock's performance reflects broader strength in the technology sector, with the iShares US Technology ETF up 22.62% year to date and the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF gaining 25.71% over the same period.

Sector Pressures and Short Interest

The recent gains follow a period of bearish pressure earlier in the week, attributed to disappointing preliminary second quarter results from Samsung, reports of Chinese startup DeepSeek developing its own AI inference chip, and news of Meta Platforms Inc. planning a competing cloud infrastructure business. A minor decline in the cryptocurrency market also weighed on the company's legacy Bitcoin mining business. Data from the last reporting period shows that short interest in TeraWulf decreased slightly, falling from 108.78 million to 108.65 million. This drop left 25.82% of the company's publicly available shares sold short. Based on the recent average daily trading volume of 26.35 million shares, it would take short sellers approximately 4.12 days to cover their positions.

TeraWulf has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion and has traded between a 52-week high of $29.84 and a 52-week low of $4.64. The stock has gained 373.65% over the past 12 months.

Rosenblatt analyst Chris Brendler has maintained a Buy rating on TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) and raised the price target to $30 from the previous $27. The adjustment reflects a revised outlook on the company's valuation and market position.

Rating and Target Details

The analyst's decision to uphold the Buy rating suggests confidence in TeraWulf's operational strategy and growth trajectory. The new price target of $30 represents an upside from the prior target of $27, indicating an expectation of positive stock performance.

TeraWulf focuses on sustainable cryptocurrency mining operations, and the updated target aligns with the company's strategic developments in the sector.