Keel Infrastructure Corp. saw its shares climb 7.39% to close at $6.10 on Monday, with approximately 48.7 million shares changing hands. The stock, which opened the session at $5.58, has been rallying as the company, formerly known as Bitfarms, shifts its strategic focus from bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence data-center infrastructure. The market capitalization settled around $3.43 billion after the U.S. trading session.
The company's recent gains are now being tested by a critical milestone: securing long-term, large-scale leases for its powered data-center sites. Keel has identified its primary objective for 2026 as signing lease agreements at its Panther Creek, Sharon, and Moses Lake campuses. These three North American sites are designed for high-performance computing (HPC), which supports AI model training and inference workloads.
Christopher Ruppel, Keel's senior vice president of power, noted in the company's May 31 Digital Power Weekly report that the AI infrastructure build has moved "past the announcement phase, into the execution phase," with an increasing emphasis on entities that can "deliver electrons on a construction schedule." The broader market provided a tailwind on Monday, with the Nasdaq rising 0.4% to 27,086.81 and the S&P 500 adding 0.3% to 7,599.96. Oil prices also climbed amid geopolitical tensions, but overall risk appetite remained robust.
Keel currently reports 341 megawatts (MW) of energized capacity and 430 MW secured, with a multi-year pipeline of 2.2 gigawatts. Panther Creek in eastern Pennsylvania is the company's flagship campus, with 350 MW of power on 336 acres and potential to expand beyond 500 MW in phases. The Sharon campus in Pennsylvania is listed at 110 MW and is targeting new GPU deployments, as graphics processing units are central to AI workloads.
Financially, Keel reported first-quarter revenue of $37 million, a 23% decline year-over-year, alongside an operating loss of $98 million and a loss from continuing operations of $128 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at negative $17 million. However, liquidity remains a key strength: as of May 8, the company held approximately $533 million in liquidity, including $336 million in unrestricted cash and $197 million in unencumbered bitcoin. This follows the sale of 269 bitcoin for $20 million earlier this year. CFO Jonathan Mir emphasized that this liquidity "fully funds" the necessary investments to advance the Panther Creek, Sharon, and Moses Lake projects through lease execution.
Analyst sentiment has been mixed but is showing signs of optimism. Alliance Global's Brian Kinstlinger raised his price target to $8 from $5 and maintained a Buy rating, citing progress on permits for three HPC/AI projects totaling 478 MW and potential for further expansion. However, the average analyst target from four analysts stands at $5.25, below Monday's close, with estimates ranging from $3 to $8.
Peer comparisons are sharpening the focus on Keel's lease execution. Applied Digital secured a $7.5 billion, 15-year lease in April with a major U.S. hyperscaler, locking in 300 MW of capacity. Keel, in contrast, has yet to announce a hyperscale lease, which has made every permitting or tenant announcement a catalyst for the stock.
Risks remain significant. The stock could lose ground if lease agreements fall through, permits stall, or financing becomes more expensive. Potential delays in power delivery, weaker-than-expected tenant terms, and ongoing operating losses are also concerns. The company's risk factors include its need for cheap power, construction delays, intense competition, regulatory hurdles, customer concentration, and potential additional capital requirements.
For now, Keel is being valued more as a bet on limited AI-capable power infrastructure than as a traditional mining company. The market's focus is squarely on management's ability to convert its pipeline into signed leases quickly enough to justify the recent rally before fundamentals catch up.
