Analyst: Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms Are Among the Most Overvalued Crypto Mining Firms

Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms are, in comparison to their rivals, among the most overvalued cryptocurrency mining companies, according to Cointelegraph and MinerMetrics inventor and analyst Jaran Mellerud. The critical metric substantiating Mellerud's assertion is the enterprise value-to-sales ratio, which computes the value of a business in relation to its sales revenue. An organisation is more overvalued as the ratio increases. Mellerud reported on November 3 that Cypher has the highest EV/S ratio at 7.8, followed by Marathon and Iris Energy each at 5.6, and Riot at 5.5.

Mellerud ascribes the elevated EV/S ratios exhibited by these titans to the increased institutional interest they have garnered from firms such as BlackRock. In the coming months, he anticipates that investors will begin allocating capital to other players, which could help to equalise the valuation disparities between these equities. Mellerud argues that opportunities with lower EV/S ratios are more economically advantageous and could be exploited. According to Mellerud, Riot's high EV-to-Hashrate ratio of 156 is an additional indicator that the stock is overvalued.

Google Finance reports that the Bitcoin mining industry has rebounded significantly in 2023, led by Marathon and Riot, whose share prices have increased by 170% and 228%, respectively. Although not all mining analysts hold the view that the ascent of Bitcoin mining stocks will persist. According to Caleb Franzen, the proprietor of Cubic Analytics, Bitcoin has already attained its highest price of the year, whereas the leading mining stocks are still more than 75% below their year-to-date peaks. Franzen pondered whether, in anticipation of the forthcoming Bitcoin halving event, Bitcoin mining firms will become exponentially more productive in the near future.