Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital fell short of revenue expectations in the first quarter of 2024 due to unfavorable weather conditions and equipment failures. Despite a 223% increase in Q1 revenues to $165.2 million compared to the previous year, the company missed the estimated $193.9 million projected by investment analyst firm Zacks by 14.80%. Marathon mined 2,811 BTC during the quarter, valued at $176.7 million, which is a 28% increase from the previous year but a 34% decrease from Q4 2023. CEO Fred Thiel attributed the production setbacks to equipment failures, weather-related curtailments, and transmission line maintenance. Despite these challenges, Marathon reported a net income of $337.2 million, a 184% increase from the previous year, surpassing the Zacks estimate of $0.02 per share with $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s income was also boosted by new accounting rules, allowing it to record a $488.8 million paper gain on the BTC it held as of March 31. Marathon’s stock closed down 2.19% on May 9 and dropped an additional 1% in after-hours trading. The share price has declined by 14.30% year-to-date after reaching a high of $31 on February 28. Marathon recently joined S&P Dow Jones Indices’ S&P SmallCap 600 index, which tracks profitable US companies with market caps between $1 billion and $6.7 billion.
Marathon Digital falls short of Q1 projections due to adverse weather and utility setbacks.