MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) Stock Jumps 4.1% – Still a Buy?

MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) shares were up 4.1% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $8.02 and last traded at $7.79. Approximately 34,570,879 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 45,386,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.48.

Key MARA News

Here are the key news stories impacting MARA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cryptocurrency stocks, including MARA, rebounded despite Piper Sandler lowering its price target. The firm maintained an Overweight rating, indicating that it still sees potential upside if bitcoin prices and the broader crypto market strengthen. Cryptocurrency Stocks Rise Despite Piper Sandler Price Target Cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler cut its MARA target to $11 from $13 but retained its Overweight rating. The revised target still implies substantial potential appreciation from recent levels, supporting the case that the stock may be undervalued if its expansion and diversification plans succeed. MARA Has Lost 64% in a Year: Piper Sandler Sees 53% Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: A YieldMax ETF linked to MARA announced a $0.0319 distribution. This may increase trading attention around MARA-related securities, but the dividend is paid by the ETF and does not represent income distributed by MARA Holdings itself. YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF Declares Dividend
• Negative Sentiment: MARA’s latest quarterly results showed a sharp earnings miss and revenue of $174.9 million, down 26.7% year over year, despite mining 2,422 bitcoin. Lower realized bitcoin prices reduced the benefit of higher production and reinforce concerns about profitability. MARA Holdings Mined More Bitcoin, but Revenue Fell 27%
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts cited a reversal in the artificial-intelligence trade, hotter inflation and more expensive debt when reducing price targets across crypto miners. These factors could make MARA’s capital-intensive data-center and diversification strategy more difficult to finance. MARA and Other Crypto Stocks See Price Cuts

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MARA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MARA from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of MARA in a report on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of MARA from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price target (down from $13.00) on shares of MARA in a report on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.90.

MARA Trading Up 4.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.78. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of -0.85 and a beta of 5.33.

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The business services provider reported ($1.60) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($1.77). The business had revenue of $174.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.44 million. MARA had a negative net margin of 429.71% and a negative return on equity of 26.05%. MARA’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MARA Holdings will post -1.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at MARA

In related news, General Counsel Zabi Nowaid sold 8,376 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $100,512.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 898,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,785,360. The trade was a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Frederick Thiel sold 27,505 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.22, for a total transaction of $308,606.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,217,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,321,314.92. This represents a 0.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 106,891 shares of company stock valued at $1,124,731. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MARA

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MARA by 2.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,838,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,999,000 after acquiring an additional 35,978 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of MARA by 11.5% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 634,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,099,000 after acquiring an additional 65,220 shares in the last quarter. Delta Global Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of MARA during the first quarter worth $5,064,000. Compass Rose Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in MARA during the first quarter valued at $4,243,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in MARA by 51.2% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 444,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,178,000 after purchasing an additional 150,665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.53% of the company’s stock.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MARA), formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, is a digital asset mining and energy infrastructure company. Its primary business is securing the Bitcoin network by operating specialized computing equipment that validates transactions and earns Bitcoin rewards.

The company develops and operates data centers and digital asset computing infrastructure, while also pursuing strategies to access low-cost and surplus energy. MARA has expanded its operations through a combination of owned facilities, hosting arrangements and acquisitions, with activities spanning North America and other international markets.

The company was founded in 2010 as Marathon Patent Group and later shifted its focus toward cryptocurrency mining before adopting the Marathon Digital name.