Marathon Digital shares plunge 8% after Q2 revenue miss estimates

United States-listed Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital shares fell 8% after filing its second quarter earnings, which fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Marathon reported revenue of $145.1 million in the second quarter, roughly 9% lower than the $157.9 million that analysts had anticipated, according to Yahoo Finance data.

The shortfall occurred despite a year-on-year revenue increase of 78% from $81.7 million in Q2 2023, according to its earnings report published on August 1.

Following the report’s release, MARA’s stock price fell 7.78%, ending the trading day at $18.14, according to Google Finance data.

As Bitcoin miners struggled throughout the quarter due to rising operational costs after the Bitcoin halving in April, Marathon Digital revealed it sold 51% of its Bitcoin (BTC) to cover operating expenses.

The report highlighted that Marathon’s average price of BTC mined in the second quarter of 2024 was 136% higher than in the prior year period.

On average, Marathon mined 22.9 Bitcoin per day, which is 9.3 less Bitcoin daily compared to the previous period.

It is the second quarter in a row that Marathon has missed consensus estimates, having also missed Q1 estimates.

At the time, Marathon’s Q1 revenues increased 223% year-on-year to $165.2 million in results shared on May 9 — but it still missed the $193.9 million estimate from investment analyst firm Zacks by 14.80%.

Riot Platforms Q2 closer to estimates

It follows the news on July 23 that Marathon has been fined $138 million after being found guilty of breaching a non-disclosure or non-circumvention agreement.

Meanwhile, rival crypto miner Riot Platforms posted $70 million in revenue for Q2 2024, a year-on-year decline of 8.8%, as per its earnings report published on July 31.

Riot’s reported revenues were a lot closer to consensus estimates, which was only 0.63% lower than Zacks' prediction.

Riot’s stock (RIOT) ended the trading day down 8.54%, closing at $9.32.