Marathon Digital reports Q4 EPS ($3.14), consensus (16c)

Reports Q4 revenue $28.42M, consensus $34.95M. "2022 was a difficult year to be a Bitcoin miner, but our team met each challenge head on, and we emerged smarter and more resilient," said CEO Fred Thiel. "We achieved several operational milestones during the year, including becoming significantly more sustainably powered as we shifted away from fossil-fuel generation and broke the mold on deploying behind the meter at a large wind farm in Texas. While navigating the macro environment, pivoting our energy strategy, and negotiating new hosting contracts, we doubled our hash rate to 7.0 exahashes of capacity year-over-year, and we finished the year with one of our most productive quarters to date. We produced a record 1,562 bitcoin (BTC) in Q4, and we increased our bitcoin production 30% year-over-year from 3,197 BTC in 2021 to 4,144 BTC in 2022. Despite the operational progress, our financial performance was negatively impacted by several factors in 2022, including accelerated costs related to our exit from Hardin, the Compute North bankruptcy, and most significantly, a 64% decline in the price of Bitcoin that reduced our margin and resulted in impairment charges for our bitcoin holdings…In the face of these challenges, and given the macroeconomic uncertainty headed into 2023, we took proactive measures starting in the latter half of 2022 to strengthen our balance sheet…We are also pursuing alternative banking relationships in light of the recent developments with Signature Bank. We believe these strategic actions have bolstered our financial position and will continue providing us with optionality, which we believe is essential given the current environment….We believe Marathon is in a stronger position today than we were a year ago. We are a company with a strong balance sheet, a roadmap to hitting our primary target of 23 exahashes of capacity near the middle of this year…"