With Bitcoin rallying more than 37% YTD, bitcoin mining stocks are gaining momentum as sympathy plays to Bitcoin’s price movement. One of these stocks is Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) which is up 108% YTD as investors are bullish that Bitcoin could be on track to rebound from its lows in 2022. As one of the largest Bitcoin miners in Noth America, many investors are confident MARA stock could be one of the best Bitcoin mining stocks to invest in to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s current rally. Given the company’s solid Bitcoin production growth, the MARA stock forecast could be extremely bullish in 2023 – especially if Bitcoin rebounds successfully.

MARA Fundamentals

With growing inflation and interest rate hikes to curb inflation, Bitcoin dropped to multi-year lows – reaching a low of $15 thousand. At the same time, the collapse of leading crypto exchange – FTX – has not helped with Bitcoin’s drop as uncertainty in the crypto market reached unprecedented levels leading to a major sell-off. As a result of these conditions, Bitcoin mining stocks significantly suffered in 2022 as one of the worst-performing sectors in the market.

Despite this, 2023 has started with a crypto bull run with Bitcoin at the forefront of this rally. Up more than 37% since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin appears to be well-positioned to rebound off its lows this year – driving increased interest in bitcoin mining stocks thanks to their exposure to the cryptocurrency. With this in mind, MARA stock appears to be one to benefit the most from Bitcoin’s rally to start the year thanks to the company’s status as one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America.

In its latest January Bitcoin production update, MARA reported record production of 687 Bitcoins – representing a 45% MOM increase. This major increase in production is mainly due to MARA addressing the maintenance and technical issues at its King Mountain data center in Texas that hindered the company’s production in Q4 2022. By improving its operational capabilities, MARA has the potential to continue growing its Bitcoin production this year – especially with the company looking to energize more miners this year.

With this in mind, MARA expects to start energizing Applied Digital’s (NASDAQ: APLD) facilities in Garden City, Texas, and Ellendale, North Dakota this quarter. In addition, MARA energized 2100 miners at the Jamestown, North Dakota facility – increasing its operating fleet to nearly 71 thousand Bitcoin servers. Meanwhile, MARA intends to fully energize the 33 megawatts contracted for at the Jamestown facility this quarter which could bring an additional 8900 miners into operation. Through energizing these facilities, MARA is confident it could reach a production capacity of 23 exahashes by mid-2023. In light of this, the MARA stock forecast could be bright for 2023 if Bitcoin continues its rally.

Given the company’s efforts to expand Bitcoin production, MARA’s expenses are set to increase. To mitigate such increases, MARA began an immersion-cooled pilot project in November that involves submerging Bitcoin miners in a dielectric fluid to improve its operating efficiency and performance. Through this new cooling method, MARA was able to increase the hash rate of an S19 J Pro miner by 20% while reducing its power draw by 4%. Moreover, MARA increased the hash rate of an S19 XP miner by 20%.

Based on these results, MARA is confident it could reduce capital expenditure by 10% compared to traditional air-cooled setups and 7% compared to single-phase immersion systems. These reductions could be possible due to eliminating the need for aluminum chassis, heat synchs, and other parts that are not required in dual-phase immersion cooling. At the same time, MARA would be able to reduce its energy costs by 7% compared to single-phase immersion systems since more servers can be racked closely together in dual-phase immersion. In light of these potential cost savings, the MARA stock forecast for the long term appears to be bullish as the company could be on the right track to profitability.

Considering MARA’s increasing and more consistent Bitcoin production, MARA opted to sell 1500 Bitcoin for the second time since its inception to fund its monthly operating costs. As a result of this sale, MARA now holds more than 11.4 thousand Bitcoin – of which more than 8 thousand Bitcoin are unrestricted. MARA also indicated that it may continue selling some of its held Bitcoin in the coming months to support its monthly expenses. As a result, the company would not have to take on debt or issue shares in the future. Meanwhile, MARA ended January with $133.8 million in cash on hand. Through its cash and Bitcoin holdings, MARA appears to be well-positioned for future growth – making it one of the best Bitcoin mining stocks to invest in for the long term.

Meanwhile, MARA is working to expand its operations by agreeing with FS Innovation, LLC to form an Abu Dhabi Global Markets Company. Focused on operating digital assets mining facilities and mining digital assets, this newly formed company will initially consist of 2 mining sites comprising 250 MW in Abu Dhabi. As for its ownership equity, the ADGM company will be 80% owned by FSI and 20% owned by MARA. In this way, the mined digital assets by the ADGM company will be distributed to MARA and FSI twice a month according to both companies’ ownership interests. Since the company would receive extra Bitcoin in addition to its growing mining operations, the MARA stock forecast appears to be bright for 2023 and beyond.

Despite the company’s long-term potential in the Bitcoin mining industry, MARA stock is an attractive investment for several retail investors thanks to its short squeeze potential. With that in mind, MARA is highly shorted with a short interest rate of 45.3% and 58.6% of its float is on loan. Considering the stock’s rising momentum due to Bitcoin’s rally, short sellers covering their positions could trigger a massive short squeeze – making MARA stock one to watch closely this month.

MARA Financials

According to its Q3 report, MARA has $1.4 billion in assets including $55.3 million in cash – which increased to $133.8 million by the end of January. As for liabilities, MARA reported $850.6 million of which $731.3 million are convertible notes due in 2026. In terms of revenues, MARA witnessed a steep YOY decline as it reported $12.6 million compared to $51.7 million. At the same time, the cost of revenues increased substantially to $40 million compared to $10.2 million a year ago. As a result, MARA reported a gross loss of $27.3 million compared to a gross profit of $41.4 million in Q3 2021. Meanwhile, operating costs declined from $63.8 million a year ago to $19.2 million. Despite this, MARA reported an operating loss of $46.4 million in comparison to $22.4 million over the same year-ago period. In light of this, MARA’s net loss widened to $75.4 million compared to $22.1 million a year ago.

Technical Analysis

MARA stock price is currently at $7.07 and has supports near 6.85, 5.24, 4.31, and 3.11. The stock also shows resistances near 9.46, 15.55, and 19.43. Since Bitcoin’s rally in January, MARA stock has been gaining momentum thanks to the company’s exposure to Bitcoin. Considering that the company is one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America, MARA has the potential to climb further if Bitcoin continues to run.

With the stock trading near major support, bullish investors could enter their positions at the current PPS to capitalize on Bitcoin’s rally this year. However, it is worth noting that MARA is trading below its VWAP and 50 MA which could see the stock retest its 200 MA if the current support fails to hold. In that way, adding shares on retests of the 200 MA could be a profitable investment for investors bullish on the MARA stock forecast.

Although accumulation spiked on Bitcoin’s rally, it is witnessing a slight downtick which could be attributable to investors taking profits following MARA’s impressive run. Similarly, the MACD is bearish to the downside. The RSI also cooled off significantly from 65 to 37 indicating that MARA could be reaching oversold territory. Based on these indicators, bullish investors could watch for the $6.85 support to hold first before adding more shares. MARA has an OS of 116.8 million and a float of 116.1 million.

MARA Forecast

With the crypto market rallying, MARA stock appears to be well-positioned to capitalize on this run thanks to its exposure to Bitcoin. Since the company’s Bitcoin production is increasing consistently, the MARA stock forecast could be extremely bullish if Bitcoin continues to run. With this in mind, MARA is already capitalizing on Bitcoin’s current run after selling 1500 Bitcoin to fund its monthly operations. As the company intends to further sell some of its held Bitcoin to support its monthly expenses, MARA appears to be in a solid financial position given its $133.8 million cash on hand as of the end of January. In light of this, MARA stock could be one of the Bitcoin mining stocks to hold onto for the long term.

Given MARA’s plans to energize its facilities this quarter, MARA could be poised for substantial financial growth if Bitcoin continues this rally as the company would increase its production significantly. Considering that the company expects to reach a production capacity of 23 exahashes by mid-year, MARA stock could be poised to soar if the company reports such growth in its future monthly updates. With the company now expecting to receive additional Bitcoin from the ADGM company once it starts production, the MARA stock forecast appears to be bright for the future.
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