Cipher Mining Inc
Q1 2026 Earnings
Market Reaction
S&P 500 over the same 30 days: +1.90%.
Did CIFR Beat Earnings? Q1 2026 Results
Cipher Digital, formerly Cipher Mining, delivered a deeply disappointing first quarter of 2026, missing Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines as its strategic pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI-focused data center development weighed heavily on reported financials. The company posted a loss of $0.28 per share, falling far short of the $0.04 consensus estimate, a 700.00% miss, while revenue of $34.84 million trailed the $36.49 million forecast by 4.54% and slid 28.8% from the year-ago period. The single biggest driver of the earnings shortfall was an explosion in interest expense, which surged to $59.16 million from just $777,000 a year earlier, a direct consequence of the company's debt-financed data center build-out, compounded by a $28.23 million mark-to-market loss on its power purchase agreement. Yet Needham recently lifted its price target on the stock to $25, maintaining a buy rating, reflecting confidence that the longer-term picture holds promise, with contracted HPC capacity of 700 MW expected to generate roughly $787 million in average annualized net operating income as new campuses ramp through 2035.
- Bitcoin mining revenue declined YoY due to lower production as company transitions to HPC data center development
- Interest expense surged to $59.2 million from $0.8 million YoY due to issuance of convertible and senior secured notes
- Negative $28.2 million change in fair value of power purchase agreement vs. positive $7.3 million a year ago
- Realized losses on sale of bitcoin of $24.2 million vs. gains of $12.2 million in Q1 2025
- Replaced ~10,000 outdated mining rigs with ~10,000 Bitmain S21 XP units at Odessa, improving fleet efficiency to ~17.2 J/TH
- Mined ~346 BTC at Odessa in Q1 2026 at power cost of ~2.8 cents/kWh
“2026 is the year of execution for Cipher. We are proud to announce massive development progress at both the Barber Lake and Black Pearl campuses. On the business development front, we built on the strong momentum from last year by signing our third AI data center campus lease with an investment-grade Hyperscale tenant in the first quarter. We also secured our first corporate revolving credit facility, strengthening our liquidity position by providing up to $200 million of committed borrowing capacity from leading global financial institutions. Looking forward, we will continue to build on this momentum and establish ourselves as the leading HPC development platform.”
Cipher Mining CEO, on the earnings call
Forward Guidance & Outlook
Cipher expects 2026 to be a year of execution, with development timelines on track at both Barber Lake and Black Pearl data centers. The company expects to have sufficient capital to fund the equity component of its third data center campus and support near-term capital requirements. Contracted HPC capacity of 700 MW is expected to generate approximately $787 million of average annualized NOI over base lease terms, with NOI ramping from approximately $86 million in 2026 to approximately $892 million by 2035. The company's pipeline includes approximately 3.3 GW of additional grid capacity expected to be energized across 2027-2030+, including projects at Ulysses (200 MW, Q4 2027), Reveille (70 MW, Q3 2027), McLennan (500 MW, 2028), Colchis (1,000 MW, 2028), and Mikeska (500 MW, 2028).
CIFR YoY Financials
CIFR Revenue by Segment
Figures from SEC filings and company reports. Not investment advice.