Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings reported record revenue and earnings in Q4 2024, surpassing analysts' expectations and the challenges presented by last year’s Bitcoin halving event.
The company posted a 37% increase in revenue, reaching $214.4 million, compared to $156.8 million in Q4 2023, owing to a 132% rise in the average price of Bitcoin mined, as per its fourth-quarter statement.
The Florida-based firm’s net income for the quarter grew by 248%, totaling $528.3 million, compared to $151.8 million in the same period last year.
While Bitcoin’s price increase contributed a hefty $119.9 million to the total, the company still faced a $64.2 million drop in revenue due to decreased Bitcoin production, which was heavily impacted by the April halving event.
The Bitcoin halving effectively slashed the reward miners receive from solving the computational puzzle inherent in proof-of-work networks by 50%, from 6.250 BTC to just 3.125 BTC per block.
As a result, MARA mined 2,492 BTC in Q4 2024, down 27% from the 3,490 BTC produced in the same quarter in 2023.
However, despite the decline in production, MARA was able to increase its total blocks won by 25%, achieving 703 blocks in Q4 2024 compared to 562 in Q4 2023.
Earnings per share also far exceeded expectations, coming in at $1.24, a significant uplift compared to analysts’ forecast of a loss of $0.32 per share, as per Market Beat data.
The EPS result marked a significant earnings surprise, with MARA's stock climbing by 7.41% to $13.38 in after-hours trading, Google Finance data shows.
MARA's hashrate grew 115% to 53.2 EH/s in Q4 2024, up from 24.7 EH/s in Q4 2023, driven by strategic acquisitions and energy capacity expansion.
Energy hashrates measure the computational power used in mining, typically in exahashes per second (EH/s), determining the rate of transaction processing and network security.
MARA’s energy and hosting costs also rose sharply by 70%, totaling $127.4 million in Q4 2024, compared to $75.1 million in Q4 2023.
The company’s direct energy cost per Bitcoin for its owned mining sites increased to $28,801, up from $23,000 in the previous year, reflecting the challenges of scaling operations while maintaining profitability.
MARA reported a 62% BTC yield per share for 2024 and did not sell any Bitcoin out of its total holding of 44,893 BTC, worth $4.6 billion, in Q4.
The second-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin is taking proactive steps to differentiate itself from its competitors.
“Our focus is not just on Bitcoin mining but on being the lowest-cost producer in an environment where efficiency and adaptability are paramount,” MARA Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel wrote in the annual shareholder letter.
While MARA comes forward with a strategic push, other miners are struggling to cope with rising energy costs and the impact of Bitcoin’s halving event.
Those challenges are reflected in Bitdeer’s recent performance, as the Singapore-based miner disclosed a significant fourth-quarter loss of $532 million. Despite its efforts to develop proprietary mining chips, Bitdeer’s stock took a hit, dropping 20% following the announcement.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair