With just one week to go, Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) saw a surge in its stock price despite missing earnings expectations for the first quarter. The company's strategic emphasis on reducing costs has gained positive feedback from analysts.

MARA Holdings is actively working towards decreasing power expenditures by incorporating more sustainable energy sources into its operations. Analysts acknowledge this move as a distinguishing factor that sets MARA apart from its industry counterparts.

The company's recent developments include expanding its wind farm infrastructure and fully activating a micro flared gas data center, all aimed at driving down operational costs related to power consumption, ultimately enhancing profit margins.

Analyst Jonathan Petersen noted these advancements as key factors that could bolster MARA's profitability in the future, leading him to revise the price target upwards while maintaining a hold rating on the stock. MARA's strategic focus on lowering energy costs has resonated positively with investors and analysts alike, setting it apart in an industry grappling with declining profit margins due to rising operational expenses.

H.C. Wainwright analyst Kevin Dede emphasized how MARA's commitment to technology development in power conversion and its pursuit of zeroing in on energy expenses differentiate it from competitors who are diverting their attention towards other business avenues like high-performance computing. Dede echoed confidence in MARA's potential to lower costs by optimizing power sources efficiently.

Bitcoin Miner MARA Stock Surges Despite Earnings Miss as Analysts Applaud Cost Cutting

Both Jefferies and H.C. Wainwright analysts said MARA's focus on lowering power cost, that differentiates the miner from its peers.

• MARA Holdings' stock rose despite missing Q1 estimates, as analysts view its cost-cutting focus positively.
• The company is expanding its use of sustainable energy sources, which is expected to reduce power costs and improve margins.
• Analysts highlight MARA's strategy of lowering energy costs as a key differentiator from its competitors.

Throughout these efforts, MARA's stock experienced a notable increase of 9% while other industry benchmarks like the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) observed slight declines.

Journalist Will Canny contributed to this report. Enjoy 2 more articles this month!

If the mining firm continues to buy up more of such power sources, it would help the company's profitability, Petersen wrote. "Continued acquisition of power assets is expected to further reduce energy costs, expand margins, and better prepare the firm for the next halving." Peterson reiterated his hold rating on the stock, while raising the price target to $16 from $13.

Bitcoin mining, once a very profitable business, has seen its profit margins crash drastically during the last bear market and even more so after the recent halving that cut the rewards by half. To make matters worse, rising power costs for mining have continued to plague the margins.

This squeeze has forced most miners to diversify their business into other sources of revenue, including hosting artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers. MARA was among the few miners that didn't jump into the AI sector right away, but rather focused on other avenues of diversification, such as transaction revenue services, mining pool, buying bitcoin in the open market and lowering power costs via green energy sources.

The last point about lower power cost seemed to have struck a chord with the market.

H.C. Wainwright analyst Kevin Dede said that this is what separates MARA from its mining peers: "Commentary last night made it clear the company remains focused on technology development in its core vertical of power conversion ... with a peeled eye on driving energy costs to zero."

"We rehash this here in distancing MARA's strategy against mining competitors gently or forcefully migrating their mining businesses to address the rapidly evolving HPC opportunity," he said.

Dede, who has a buy rating and price target of $28, also seemed to echo the sentiment that MARA will be able to lower costs by focusing on these types of power sources.

"Our opinion on that aside for now, we agree with MARA's overarching objective to create opportunities by exploiting unused power or improving the efficiency of used power," he said.

MARA's shares rose as much as 9% on Friday, while the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) has fallen about 0.3%.

Will Canny contributed reporting.

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