Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Preliminary Results: Here’s what to expect

by Junna Base November 12, 2024

Shares of Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) are rising in today’s trading as investors await third-quarter results after the close on November 12. Analysts expect earnings per share of -$0.33 on revenue of $141.04 million. According to TipRanks data, this represents a 186.8% decline for the former but a 44.1% year-over-year increase for the latter.

It’s worth noting that MARA has a mixed track record when it comes to outperforming earnings. In fact, estimates have been beaten just four times in the last eight quarters.

Improve production figures

Although earnings per share are expected to decline, the company recently provided a positive update on Bitcoin production. In fact, Marathon produced 717 Bitcoins in October, up 2% month over month and its best month since the April halving (an event that reduced the reward for mining Bitcoin).

Additionally, the company saw its active hash rate (the number of calculations a miner can perform per second) increase by 14% to 40.2 EH/s compared to the previous month. Marathon aims to reach a hash rate of 50 EH/s by the end of the year by upgrading its sites with new miners and improving infrastructure.

The company currently holds 27,562 BTC, which is worth around $2.2 billion at the time of writing. This is also why profits are expected to decline and turn negative – Marathon has decided to hold on to more of its Bitcoins rather than selling them on the open market, thus preventing them from officially generating net income.

Is MARA a good stock to buy?

As for Wall Street, analysts have a consensus rating on MARA stock of Moderate Buy based on three buys, one hold, and one sell in the last three months, as shown in the chart below. After a 110% increase in share price over the past year, MARA’s average price target of $21 per share implies an upside potential of 9.1%.