The 3 Best Crypto Mining Stocks to Buy for a Q3 Rally
After dropping to a low of $59,117.50, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is back above $63,000, creating big opportunity for some of the best crypto mining stocks to buy.
Even better, the digital currency could race even with two nearing catalysts.
For one, according to CoinDesk.com, “May 15 marks the deadline for institutional investment managers to file form 13-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If more firms are shown to have purchased the newly approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds during the first quarter, this will show bitcoin has gained further institutional acceptance.”
The other potential catalyst is the potential rejection of an Ether ETF.
“This is significant because while Ethereum‘s (ETH-USD) fate may remain up in the air until 2025 or longer, we believe there’s a substantial amount of capital waiting for a digital winner to be declared; to the extent Bitcoin proves to be that winner, the incremental demand would likely be felt even more acutely given the recent bitcoin halving,” TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza added.
Before either of those catalysts play out, investors should jump into some of the best crypto mining stocks to buy.
Marathon Digital (MARA)
Recent weakness in Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) is an opportunity.
For one, when Bitcoin pushes higher, Marathon Digital typically goes along for the ride. Two, it’s still successfully mining BTC, producing 850 BTC in April, a 21% jump year over year. Three, as noted by company CEO Fred Thiel, “With capacity in Ellendale coming back online and improvements made at other sites, we increased our average operational hash rate 15% in April to 21.1 exahash and increased our bitcoin production 21% to 850 bitcoin.”
While we’ll get a better idea of what’s going on with MARA with earnings on May 9, we do know the stock will join the S&P SmallCap 600 today.
We also know that for full-year 2023, MARA produced 12,852 Bitcoin, a 210% jump from a year earlier. Revenues were up 229% for the year to $387.5 million year-over-year. Net income also jumped to $261.2 million, or $1.06 per diluted share from a year earlier loss of $6.94, or $6.12 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $419.9 million from a 2022 loss of $543.3 million.
Riot Platforms (RIOT)
Weakness is also an opportunity for Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) — another one of the best crypto mining stocks to buy.
After diving to a recent low of $7.80, RIOT is now back to $10.09 and could potentially retest $12.50 again shortly. Longer term, I’d like to see RIOT retest near $17.40. Helping, earnings have been strong, with the company posting net income of $211 million for its first quarter.
Total revenue came in at $79.3 million from $73.2 million year over year. It produced 1,364 BTC in the quarter, which was down about 36% year over year. It also saw Bitcoin mining revenue of $74.6 million in the quarter, as compared to the $48 million from a year earlier.
Needham is still bullish on the RIOT stock but cut its price target to $15 from $17. All following a downward revision of Riot’s fiscal 2024 revenue and adjusted EBITDA. In addition, in early April, JPMorgan raised its target by 50 cents to $15.50 with an overweight rating.
CleanSpark (CLSK)
There’s also CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), which has been trading sideways since the start of February. From its current price of $16.50, I’d like to see it initially retest $24.
Fueling upside, analysts at Bernstein predicts mining stocks will eventually consolidate.
In fact, as noted by Investorplace contributor William White, “The CEO of CleanSpark expects the industry to consolidate to 4 leading miners and believes RIOT, MARA, CLSK and CIFR to be in the lead […] [The] CEO of MARA also highlighted a path to industry consolidation and named CLSK as their arch competitor in the race for acquisition targets.”
Plus, recent earnings were impressive. In the first quarter, the company’s revenues jumped to $73.8 million, a 165% jump year over year. Net income was $25.9 million, or 14 cents per share from a year-earlier loss of $29 million, or a 46-cent per share loss. Its adjusted EBITDA also ran to $69.1 million from a year-earlier loss of $2 million.
On the date of publication, Ian Cooper did not hold (directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
