CleanSpark (CLSK) stock fell more than 9.4% Tuesday in pre-market trading after U.S. bitcoin. The mining company reported a widening net loss of $378.3 million for its fiscal second quarter, hit by a significant non-cash adjustment to its digital asset holdings.
The company reported a net loss of $378.3 million for the quarter ending March 31, a sharp increase from the $138.8 million loss reported for the same period last year. The loss of $1.52 per share was more than triple analysts’ EPS estimate of a loss of 41 cents.
The company’s hit was primarily due to a non-cash loss in Bitcoin’s fair value of $224.1 million, reflecting market volatility.
Quarterly revenue came in at $136.4 million, down 25% from $181.7 million year-over-year, the report found, missing estimates of $154.3 million.
Despite the decline, CleanSpark expanded its infrastructure, doubling its contracted megawatts (MW). CEO Matt Schutz said the company is moving toward commercializing “AI/HPC applicable assets,” joining an industry-wide shift toward leasing their computing power as AI data centers.
CFO Gary Vecchiarelly cited the company’s balance sheet as “a competitive advantage, reporting an increase in bitcoin holdings of 14% to $925.2 million from last year. Total cash is $260.3 million, while total assets now stand at $2.9 billion with long-term debt of $1.8 billion.
The estimated average cost of mining one bitcoin was $88,000 as of mid-March, according to a report from difficulty regression model Checkonchain. The current price of bitcoin sits at just over $80,000, meaning bitcoin mining companies across the board are operating at a loss.
These economic factors have forced Bitcoin miners to turn to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure. By the end of March, the bitcoin mining industry had signed approximately $70 billion in such contracts.
Read more: Circle raises $222M for Arc, beats Q1 profit estimates but misses revenue
