Investment bank Jefferies maintained a hold rating on MARA Holdings (MARA) stock after bitcoin The miner reported third-quarter results largely in line with Wall Street expectations.
The company cited stable operations, promising developments in energy integration and cautious steps toward artificial intelligence, while cutting its price target from $19 to $16.
Shares rose 7% in early trading, around $17.80.
MARA posted $252 million in revenue, compared to Jefferies and consensus estimates of $245 million and $251 million, respectively.
The company mined 2,144 bitcoins, up 4% year-over-year but down 9% sequentially, and reported adjusted EBITDA of around $396 million, including a fair value gain of $234 million on digital assets.
The company ended the quarter with about $6.85 billion in cash and bitcoin, giving it ample flexibility for expansion, analysts Jonathan Petersen and Jan Aygul wrote in Tuesday’s report.
Analysts pointed to MARA’s letter of intent with MPLX to jointly develop gas-fired generation and data center campuses in West Texas as a potential structural advantage. The 400 megawatt (MW) project, with the ability to scale to 1.5 gigawatts (GW), would allow the miner to control its own power generation and transfer power between bitcoin mining, network sales and AI workloads.
Jefferies said the move could reduce costs and protect against energy market volatility, although the deal still needs final agreements and regulatory clearance.
The firm also highlighted Marathon’s first AI inference deployment at its Granbury, Texas site, where ten racks were installed to repurpose mining infrastructure for edge computing.
Analysts at the bank called the initiative “strategically important” as a proof of concept, noting that while the scale is small, success could pave the way for higher-margin revenue and position MARA at the intersection of bitcoin mining and practical AI computing.
Read more: MARA Holdings outlines AI and energy change with MPLX LOI; Third quarter results impress
