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Investment firm Bernstein has issued a positive outlook on the Bitcoin mining industry, assigning “outperform” ratings to four publicly listed companies: Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, IREN (previously known as Iris Energy), and Core Scientific.
These ratings suggest that Bernstein anticipates these stocks will exceed the performance of the overall market.
In contrast, as reported by Decrypt on Aug. 16, MARA (formerly Marathon Digital Holdings) received a “market-perform” rating, indicating Bernstein expects its performance to align with the market average.
Focus on Expansion and Efficiency
Bernstein’s assessment was grounded in five critical factors: Bitcoin (BTC) production, operational efficiency, energy usage, costs, and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy.
Bernstein emphasized Riot Platforms’ operational capacity and its ambitious growth initiatives. Despite a general downturn in Bitcoin mining output, Riot reported robust Q2 2024 results, achieving $70 million in revenue. The company expanded its operations with a new facility in Texas, acquired Block Mining for $92.5 million, and raised its stake in Bitfarms to 18.9%.
Riot Platforms Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results, Current Operational and Financial Highlights. Riot Reports $70.0 million in Total Revenue and Deployed Hash Rate of 22.0 EH/s.
“I am extremely pleased to present results for Riot’s second quarter 2024, during which we… pic.twitter.com/ZhTOwzLVZA
— Riot Platforms, Inc. (@RiotPlatforms) July 31, 2024
CleanSpark received commendation for its exceptional energy efficiency and high realized hash rate, which is a crucial indicator of actual mining performance.
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Exploring Beyond Bitcoin
Bernstein conveyed optimism regarding IREN’s growth strategies, particularly its two large-scale sites in Texas. In addition to Bitcoin mining, the company’s prospects in the AI sector are also encouraging, as highlighted by its collaboration with Morgan Stanley to investigate AI opportunities.
$IREN is pleased to announce it has appointed @MorganStanley as financial advisor to evaluate monetization opportunities in the AI data center market.
— IREN (@IREN_Ltd) July 16, 2024
Core Scientific also impressed analysts with its cost-effectiveness and innovative AI strategy. The report praised the company’s “best in class” hashcost, attributed to “low power costs, uptime, and controlled SG&A costs” (SG&A refers to Selling, General & Administrative expenses). In addition to cost efficiency, Core Scientific was recognized as “a clear leader on AI strategy,” according to Bernstein.
Favorable Prospects for Bitcoin Mining
While MARA received a “market-perform” rating, Bernstein acknowledged its advantages and noted that the company has enhanced its uptime efficiency by transitioning to a self-mining model. Analysts also foresee the firm fully shifting to its own mining sites to lessen dependence on hosting partners.
Regarding overall mining trends, the report anticipates an improvement in mining margins in Q4 2024, potentially driven by a Bitcoin bull market spurred by institutional investments in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Analysts predict that mining costs will decrease as companies like MARA implement the latest generation of rigs for expansion, resulting in enhanced efficiencies.
The post Bernstein Upgrades Four Key Bitcoin Miners to ‘Outperform’ appeared first on Cryptonews.
