MARA Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) mined 2,422 bitcoin in the second quarter, a little more than it mined a year earlier. Yet revenue fell 27% to $174.9 million because the average price of each coin it produced was far lower.
That gap explains why the company wants to stop being known as a bitcoin miner. It now describes itself as an owner of power-ready land and electricity, and it hopes to rent that capacity to AI companies. But mining still pays the bills and no AI customer has signed on yet, so the question is whether a customer arrives before the bitcoin cushion thins.
MARA runs 19 data centers, most filled with machines that earn bitcoin by processing transactions, and it holds a large stash of the coin. It wants to turn some sites into data centers that rent computing space to AI customers. On the evidence so far, it is a bitcoin miner paying for an AI transition that has no customer yet. Investors who want more stocks like this can find MARA in our recent list, 9 Best Bitcoin Stocks to Buy Now.
Bitcoin Still Decides the Results
The company’s reported results still move with bitcoin’s price. MARA posted a net loss of $611.3 million in the second quarter, and $343.0 million of that came from marking its bitcoin down to market value. It is a paper loss, but it landed on the line investors read as profit. Mining itself kept growing, with more machines running than a year earlier even as each coin was worth less.
Sales grew about 190.9% a year over the past five years, a long record of growth. But over the past 12 months MARA lost $3.46 billion on $804.22 million in sales, so the growth never reached profit. If you own the shares, you own a bet on bitcoin’s price and a bet on AI demand at the same time.
The Power Sites Still Need a Tenant
Management’s answer is power. MARA is waiting on regulatory approval for Long Ridge, a power plant with more than 70% of its output sold under long-term contracts. Management expects it to add earnings once it closes. MARA also secured rights to a powered land site in Matagorda County, Texas, and together the two would lift its power portfolio to as much as 4.8 gigawatts.
No customer has signed yet. Management told shareholders it is confident of signing at least one lease before year-end, working with its partner Starwood. For investors looking to add AI power exposure, our list of 10 Best AI Energy Stocks to Buy in 2026 covers more names.
The company took on $600.0 million of new bitcoin-backed loans to help fund Long Ridge, and it bought no bitcoin in the quarter while its holdings fell 29% to 35,577 coins. If no tenant signs, the company will have borrowed against the asset that protects it.
The plan survives this, because the power assets are lined up and the lease timeline is management’s own. It does limit how much credit the company deserves until a contract exists.
Investors Are Pricing MARA on a Promise
Because MARA loses money, the usual earnings test does not apply. The forward P/E, which divides a stock’s price by expected earnings, shows no meaningful value for the company, so the stock is not priced on earnings at all. Companies in its sector carry a median forward P/E of 21.01, which shows what investors pay for expected earnings, and MARA has none to compare.
Among hedge funds, holders of MARA numbered 27 in the second quarter of 2026, up from 25 in the first quarter. The count comes from quarterly filings, so it shows professional interest edging up even though the company still loses money. If you’re looking for lower-priced stocks that hedge funds hold, check out 10 Best US Stocks to Buy Under $20: Ranked by Hedge Funds.
On the other side, short interest stands at 29.84% of shares outstanding, which means traders have borrowed and sold a large share of the stock, betting the price will fall. A reading that high shows many traders doubt the story will deliver.
So the puzzle at the start has a plain answer. MARA mined more bitcoin and still reported less revenue because its results follow bitcoin’s price, and the AI plan has not changed that yet. The stock is priced on that plan, which makes the lease management expects before year-end the thing to watch.
READ NEXT: Nvidia (NVDA): Can Paid Software Make Its Earnings Less Dependent on Hardware Sales? and Cisco (CSCO): Can Software Renewals Outlast the Networking Upgrade Cycle?
This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Hedge Fund Resource Center