• Marathon Digital Holdings Inc sold 1,500 bitcoin last month while minting a record 687 BTC.
• The digital asset technology company saw its stock drop 15% after the announcement.
• Wall Street analysts remain positive on Marathon and they believe it has upside potential to reach $12 per share.
Marathon Digital Produces Record Number of Bitcoin
Marathon Digital Holdings Inc reported a 45% sequential increase in monthly BTC production for January 2021. The mining company also sold 1,500 bitcoin last month to cover operational costs. Despite the decrease in stock price following the news, Wall Street analysts remain optimistic that Marathon will reach its goal of becoming one of the largest and most energy efficient bitcoin mining operations globally by mid-2023.
Impact on Stock Price
Marathon’s stock dropped 15% after the announcement of its January production numbers and sales figures. However, analysts maintain an average overweight rating for “MARA” stock and see upside potential to $12 per share. Last week BlackRock confirmed that it now owns 8.62 million shares of Marathon Digital representing 7.4% of the digital asset technology company’s total outstanding shares.
January Production & Sales Figures
The digital asset technology company produced a record 687 BTC in January 2021 compared to 468 BTC in December 2020; however, it also opted to sell 1,500 BTC during the same time period due to increased operational costs associated with scaling up operations. As a result, Marathon’s unrestricted cash holdings rose from $115 million at end-December 2020 to $133 million at end-January 2021 while unrestricted BTC holdings rose from 7,291 at end-December 2020 to 8090 at end-January 2021 .
Q4 Results & Outlook
Marathon is set to report its Q4 results early next month with consensus expecting 19 cents per share loss versus 36 cents earned a year ago due mainly to increased operating expenses associated with scaling up operations this quarter as well as continued liquidation of its BTC holdings going forward .
Conclusion
Overall, despite some short term volatility following the announcement of its January production figures, Wall Street analysts remain optimistic on Marathon Digital’s long term prospects and continue to rate it an average overweight rating with upside potential towards $12/share as it continues to scale up its operations into one of the largest bitcoin mining companies globally by mid 2023