Marathon Digital cut to Hold at Jefferies with 'no end in sight for crypto winter'

Jefferies analyst Jonathan Petersen downgraded bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) miner Marathon Digital Holdings ( NASDAQ: MARA ) to Hold from Buy against a tough backdrop of depressed BTC prices and a high network hash rate. That dynamic, along with elevated energy/electricity prices, continues to hurt miners' profitability margins and overall liquidity. For Marathon ( MARA ), in particular, there remains uncertainty around how quickly the company can deploy its new miners given ongoing construction and energization delays, Petersen pointed out in a note to clients. Its bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) output barely budged in the last month of 2022, though it did takes steps to bolster its liquidity position. "The potential for curtailment requirements or power disruptions through the colder winter months could also weigh on operational performance in the near term," the analyst said. MARA, despite the downbeat coverage, gained 3.2% in premarket trading. Petersen's Hold rating diverges from the Quant system's Strong Sell rating, with the poorest marks in profitability and momentum, as well as the average Wall Street analyst rating of Buy. For a contrarian view, Seeking Alpha contributor Investor Trip flagged MARA as a Strong Buy, arguing that bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) will soon bottom out.