HIVE Blockchain fiscal Q4 revenue rises more than expected

HIVE Blockchain Technologies ( NASDAQ: HIVE ) said Friday it delivered fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $18.2M, vs. $17.3M consensus estimate, up from $14.3M in the prior quarter and down from $49.8M a year before. Like its crypto mining peers, the company faced a number of headwinds throughout fiscal 2023, including "continued increases in the Bitcoin difficulty, Bitcoin prices averaging 49% lower than last year and the Ethereum Merge to Proof-of-Stake," President and CEO Aydin Kilic said in a statement. Still, "our gross operating margin each quarter exceeded our corporate SG&A and so the Company was able to maintain this positive corporate margin each quarter," he noted. Q4 gross operating margin of $4.02M advanced from $3.62M in Q3 and dropped from $22.9M in the year-earlier period. HIVE perked up 4.8% in premarket trading, as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) gained 1.3% to a hair over $31K. With crypto prices in the green in recent months, HIVE's ( HIVE ) gains on sale of digital currencies of $5.35M compared with losses of $30.9K a year ago. The loss on sale of mining assets was $118K, improving from $1.29M in Q3 and a gain of $2.21M in Q4 2022. Adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.28M vs. gains of $1.55M in Q3 and $11.79M in Q4 of the prior year. More on HIVE Blockchain HIVE Blockchain reports full-year 2023 results HIVE Blockchain produces 304.6 bitcoins in May HIVE Blockchain: A Potential Legacy Bitcoin Miner In The Making