Marathon Digital swings to a profit, but its stock falls after earnings

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Marathon posted fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $151.8 million, or 66 cents a share, whereas it logged a net loss of $391.6 million, or $3.13 a share, in the year-earlier period. That prior-year period included more than $300 million in impairments of mining equipment and vendor advances.

Revenue for the latest quarter came in at $156.8 million, up from $28.4 million a year prior. Analysts had been looking for $148.8 million.

“Given our momentum, our strong balance sheet, and the differentiators we are building with our technology stack, we are optimistic that the most exciting times for our organization are still to come,” Chief Executive Fred Thiel said in a release.

The company produced 4,242 bitcoins in the fourth quarter, compared with 1,562 in the same period a year before. It said its fleet efficiency improved 21%.

Marathon reduced its debt by 56% to $331 million at a 21% discount to par.

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Thiel said that during 2024, Marathon plans to grow its hash rate to about 35 to 37 exahash from just under 25 in 2023. Exahash is a unit that measures computational power. By the end of 2025, Marathon expects to be at 50 exahash.

“With orders for 22 exahash of miners already placed and options to add an additional 23 exahash to these orders, we believe there may be opportunities to accelerate our growth targets,” he said.