Why Are Marathon Digital Shares Sliding Premarket Amid Bitcoin's Breathtaking Rally?

Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. MARA fell sharply in premarket trading on Thursday after the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Bitcoin BTC/USD miner announced its fourth-quarter results.

The company reported its fourth-quarter revenue climbed about 452% year-over-year to $156.77 million, thanks to strong Bitcoin mining. The top line exceeded the consensus estimate of $144.08 million.

The company reversed to a profit of 66 cents per share from a loss of $3.13 per share a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the loss was 2 cents per share, coming in below the 3-cent per share profit expected by analysts.

Among the other operating metrics, fourth-quarter Bitcoin production spiked by 172% to 4,242 units, and the average Bitcoin produced per day also climbed by a similar magnitude.

Energized hash rate and installed hash rate surged up by 319% and 260%, respectively. A hash rate is a measure of the security of a network, as it is used to determine the mining difficulty of a blockchain network.

“Whether it be financially, operationally, or technologically, we believe we are setting the pace for this industry. 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,” said Fred Thiel, CEO of the company.

The pullback in Marathon Digital shares came despite Bitcoin’s extended rally seen since last weekend. The apex hit a new intraday high of $63,432.97 on Thursday before pulling slightly off the level.

The Bitcoin miner’s weakness could be due to the bottom-line miss and sentiment has been moderate after the stock’s 29%+ pre-earnings rally seen this week.

In premarket, Marathon Digital fell 8.51% to $28.39, according to Benzinga Pro data. Bitcoin was up 6.81% to $63,016.66.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

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