D.A. Davidson, the Wall Street investment banking and research firm, launched research coverage of bitcoin mining companies Core Scientific, Marathon Digital, Riot Blockchain and Hut 8 Mining with buy ratings for all the stocks.
D.A. Davidson analyst Christopher Brendler sees a “huge opportunity” for the domestic miners, after bitcoin’s sustained rally and China’s sweeping crypto bans. Brendler was previously at Seaport Global and Stifel Nicolaus.
“Combined with improved access to capital that’s sustaining their lead (and ‘HODL’), we expected these stocks to revalue much higher as earnings estimates crush near-term estimates, even if bitcoin consolidates,” Brendler wrote.
With U.S. miners gaining market share after China’s bans and with bitcoin above $55,000, the companies are “literally printing money.”
The miners’ stocks, which are highly correlated with the price of bitcoin, have seen a relentless rally this year as the price of the largest cryptocurrency more than doubled. Meanwhile, the Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF, or RIGZ, which has heavy exposure to the miners and was launched in July, has gained 47%.
“Bitcoin mining stocks are highly (~70%) correlated with bitcoin prices with good reason since BTC not only directly drives reported revenue, but all four also try to hold as much newly-minted bitcoin as possible in their balance sheet,” the analyst wrote.
Brendler’s top pick among the miners is Hut 8, and he expects “massive” earnings upside across the whole mining sector.
