Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani initiated coverage on U.S. Bitcoin miners with an Outperform rating on Riot Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT) (price target $15.6), Outperform on CleanSpark, Inc (NASDAQ: CLSK) (price target $5.3) and a Market-Perform rating on Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) (price target $8.3).
Chhugani prefers RIOT and CleanSpark as market share consolidators with strong operational edge, low cost of production, high liquidity, and unlevered balance sheets. Marathon is the largest miner but with sub-par expenses and debt, no operational advantage.
Riot and CLSK are counter-cyclically investing in Bitcoin self-mining capacity, unlike some miners who pivoted capacity to AI/high-performance computing.
He notes ...