MARA Holdings Stock DIps Despite JPMorgan Upgrade, Price Target Hike: Retail Unfazed

Marathon Holdings's (MARA) shares tumbled as much as 4% in morning trade on Tuesday despite an upgrade from JPMorgan.

The brokerage revised its rating on the Bitcoin miner to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underweight’ and raised its price target to $23, up from $12. 

In a research note, JPMorgan cited MARA’s acquisition of 800 MW of self-mining capacity over the last 12 months – which today only trails fellow Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms in terms of owned active power capacity – as "impressive and goes a long way towards improving the company's mining economics." 

During its third-quarter results, MARA reported that its energized hash rate – the portion of a mining operation's total capacity that is actively operational and contributing to cryptocurrency mining – increased 93% year-over-year to 36.9 EH/s. By the end of the year, it plans to hit 50 EH/s.

For comparison, Riot reported a hash rate of 29.4 EH/s in October and is only planning to hit MARA’s 36 EH/s hash rate by the end of 2024. 

JPMorgan said the shares "are rich" but seem "properly priced."

Marathon Holdings Sentiment and Message Volume on Dec 10 as of 11:55 a.m. ET | Source: Stocktwits

Despite the drop in MARA’s stock, retail sentiment around the stock has flipped to ‘bullish’ (57/100) from ‘bearish’ a day ago as message volumes increased to ‘normal’.

Users on the platform expect the stock to show positive momentum once Bitcoin starts to climb again.

Retail investors on Stocktwits feel that MARA has the most potential for future growth among Bitcoin miners. 

Stocktwits Poll on Bitcoin Miners on Dec 10 as of 11:30 a.m. ET | Source: Stocktwits

Despite Bitcoin’s bull run to over $103,000 last week and its 118% gains year-to-date, MARA’s stock is down 1.4% so far this year. 

MARA is the second-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin and currently has 36,382 of the world’s largest cryptocurrency on its balance sheets. It is valued at approximately $3.5 billion, which is around half of MARA’s $7.6 billion market capitalization.

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