Stock Market Today, Oct. 20: IREN Slides on Funding Worries and Rate Fears

IREN (IREN -4.00%), a vertically integrated AI cloud and data center operator, closed at $26.62, down 4.00%. Premarket funding worries and rate fears pressured the stock, while investors are watching AI data center financing and guidance next.

Trading volume reached 69.7M shares, coming in about 52% above its three-month average of 45.9M shares. IREN IPO’d in 2021 and has grown 9% since going public.

How the markets moved today

S&P 500 closed at 7,711, up 0.26%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished at 26,425, down 0.02%. Among AI cloud services and vertically integrated data center infrastructure peers, Applied Digital closed at $19.33, up 0.42%, and Core Scientific closed at $13.79, up 0.44%, indicating steadier demand for nearby infrastructure names.

What this means for investors

IREN stock continues to suffer as debt-related fears weigh on it and its neocloud peers.

Its $7.6 billion in debt is lower in relative and absolute terms than that of its peer CoreWeave. Nonetheless, like CoreWeave, it depends on debt.

IREN did state that its data center segment currently carries no debt. Still, bond ratings remain a worry. Admittedly, if financing becomes too costly, it may have to turn to share issuance to fund construction, which could place further strain on its stock.

Additionally, unlike CoreWeave, it remains heavily involved in its legacy Bitcoin mining enterprise, and that part of the business continues to generate the majority of IREN’s revenue.

Indeed, Bitcoin’s recent performance could shield the stock from some of the concerns surrounding its AI cloud business. Nonetheless, as long as interest rate concerns call IREN’s financing options into question, the cloud stock may struggle to recover in the near term.