Summary MARA Holdings maintains sector-leading energy costs at $0.04/kWh for owned sites, critical for Bitcoin mining competitiveness. MARA's total cost per acquired Bitcoin rose to $40,047 in Q1 2026, reflecting global hashrate growth, but energy cost discipline remains strong. MARA is pivoting towards AI infrastructure by acquiring Long Ridge Energy & Power, securing a 505 MW gas asset with expansion potential beyond 1 GW. Diversifying into AI data center power provision positions MARA to reduce reliance on volatile Bitcoin mining while retaining industry leadership. Sometimes, the difference between survival and extinction in business all comes down to tiny incremental numbers. This reality is set in stone in a business like Bitcoin mining, and companies like MARA Holdings ( MARA ) are well aware of the fact that they must do everything within their power to force some separation between themselves and the competition. This is why I was so pleased to see this tidbit of news from the company's Q1 2026 earnings report : On the cost side, our cost per kilowatt hour was $0.04 for our owned sites in the first quarter of 2026. For context, we believe this remains among the most competitive in the sector at a larger scale. Salman Khan, Chief Financial Officer for the company, was quoted as saying that. He went on to report that the total cost per acquired Bitcoin had risen to $40,047 in Q1 2026, compared to $35,728 the year prior, but he attributed that to growth in the global hashrate. So, while the cost of acquisition for each Bitcoin was higher than the year before, the company is doing an excellent job of managing its energy costs. That will be increasingly important as energy demand continues to soar . MARA is Working on an AI Transformation I have to hand it to the management team at MARA. They appear to be well aware of the fact that the earth beneath them is shifting, and they need to be reactive to it in order to survive. The steep decline in the value of Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) over the last year has made it difficult to post positive news for companies that operate in this space: Data by YCharts However, rather than stand pat and simply complain about the changing economics of the space, management at MARA has made the proactive decision to make a shift towards becoming a critical AI infrastructure provider. Namely, the company seeks to provide some of the power that AI data centers and other AI infrastructure require. To take steps in that direction, the company recently closed a deal to acquire Long Ridge Energy & Power LLC from FTAI Infrastructure Inc. ( FIP ). This deal gives MARA access to a facility that is a 505 MW combined-cycle gas asset with 1,600 acres of property and the potential to expand beyond 1 GW of power capacity. This provides MARA with an excellent opportunity to leverage the asset that they acquired in this deal to step in to provide AI data centers with the power capacity that they will require as they continue to expand their operations. Is it a pivot from the type of business that MARA has built its reputation on? Yes. Is it also a timely move that grants MARA the ability to reinvent itself and begin to operate in an industry that is booming? Also, yes. I believe that this is a bold move that can begin to shift MARA out of the volatile Bitcoin business slowly but steadily. While Bitcoin mining will likely always be at least part of MARA's identity, I believe that diversifying revenue streams is always a smart step, and that is the step that MARA is taking. Record Hashrate Expansion Proves That MARA Remains Ahead of Bitcoin Mining Competitors While I have largely focused on how I believe MARA will diversify itself out of the Bitcoin mining business, it is important to note that they do still operate in this realm for the time being. I don't anticipate some massive unwinding of this business entirely at any point in MARA's near future. As such, they must remain ahead of the competition in this space. In Q1 2026 , the company proved once again why it is a leader in the Bitcoin mining arena. In particular, its record hashrate expansion was a shining moment of pride for the company. Here is how Salman Khan reported on that: During the quarter, we delivered record energized hashrate of 72.2 exahash per second, increasing 33% from 54.3 exahash per second in Q1 of 2025. He went on to say: This growth reflects continued fleet optimization and the deployment of approximately 2.4 exahash of new generation ASIC miners at favorable pricing during the quarter. Our share of available mining rewards reached 5.5%, up from 4.8% in Q4 of 2025. Once again, I read this as a company that is focused on operational efficiencies. Given what has happened with the price of Bitcoin over the last year, I believe this is exactly where the attention of all Bitcoin miners should be. If a company can nail down the basics like this, then it stands a better chance of weathering the storm of a Bitcoin decline, and I believe that is precisely what MARA has done. Valuation Figures Suggest That MARA's Story is Just Getting Started One of the interesting things that I noted as I began to explore MARA's valuation figures in relation to those of their competition is that they seem to be a company that has been left behind. On most of the metrics that I checked, MARA's competition showed largely better results. Typically, if I saw this, I would wonder if there was something fundamentally wrong with the company. However, after digging into MARA's story, I don't believe that to be the case. Instead, I believe that as a company that has yet to turn profitable, MARA has been somewhat overlooked by the market even as its peers have seen their share prices soar. A few of MARA's peers that I examined include: IREN Limited ( IREN ) Hut 8 Corp. ( HUT ) Bitdeer Technologies Group ( BTDR ) CleanSpark, Inc. ( CLSK ) Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) Just take a moment to appreciate how much the shares of each of these companies have appreciated in the last year compared to MARA: Data by YCharts They are all flying high while MARA has virtually flatlined. This is notable simply because it seems that the rest of the industry is being rewarded while MARA is being overlooked. While I certainly understand a fair dose of skepticism about MARA's ability to rebound from some pretty devastating Bitcoin price action over the last year, I don't think the market is giving the company its fair respect when it comes to the company's work to transition into the AI infrastructure business. If that segment of the business takes off, and I believe there is a chance that it will, then MARA could see its share price finally begin to behave like that of some of its rivals, in my opinion. Forward P/E Ratio As regular readers already know, I am a big fan of the forward P/E ratio metric as a comparison tool. I find it to be extremely useful in that it helps to show me what kind of future Wall Street projects onto the various companies that I examine. Does it mean that it always pans out just how Wall Street anticipates that it will? No, but it is still useful for at least helping me to better understand what perceptions of various companies look like. When I ran this comparison on these various competitors, here is what I found: Data by YCharts Of this group, one company, Hut 8 Corp., doesn't have earnings to compare its price against. The others largely showed companies with extraordinarily high forward P/E ratios. However, that simply wasn't the case for MARA's figure. Instead, it appears quite reasonable, and dare I say, even attractive at this level. It appears to me that the lack of gains in its share price over the last year might be helping to keep that number in line. Price-to-Book Ratio While I don't typically gravitate towards using price-to-book ratios as a means of comparison, I noticed something interesting while examining MARA. That is that the company boasts of an enterprise value larger than its current market cap. MARA seemingly has significant assets on its books, but it isn't being valued fairly based on that in my view. That led me to run a comparison of the price-to-book ratios of each of these competitors as well, and this was the result: Data by YCharts On this measure, MARA is the runaway winner. My opinion is that they are being undervalued and disrespected by the market given their enterprise value and capital position. The Bearish Take Although I largely see MARA as a value name at this juncture, there are certainly plenty of bearish investors who view the name in a different light. They have certain arguments that they tend to pivot to when debating this stock, and I think it is fair to give them the floor to make those arguments. Here are the bearish takes on this name: MARA is Still Mostly a Bitcoin Proxy As much as management might want to talk about a transformation into an AI infrastructure provider, many still see the company as nothing more than a Bitcoin proxy . This being the case, many investors treat it in exactly that light. They continue to trade the stock based on the value of Bitcoin, and that value is highly volatile. This argument also goes a long way towards explaining why MARA lags competitors so significantly and why, in the minds of bears, that reality won't change anytime soon. The AI Pivot Isn't a Guarantee The move towards becoming an AI power supplier might seem like a brilliant play by management, but bears still question if it will work. There are plenty of bullish takes that say that this is a diversification play, but the bears want to see real proof in the pudding before assigning any value to this move at all. MARA is the Stock That Has Been Left Behind When it was all said and done, after my review of this name, I came to a simple conclusion. That is that MARA feels like a stock that has been left behind. Maybe it is due to the level of Bitcoin exposure that it still has, or perhaps Wall Street is simply too caught up chasing other stories. Whatever the case may be, I believe that this name is undervalued. I understand that the Bitcoin exposure still exists, but I see where the company is making vital efficiency improvements. Also, if MARA has managed to survive this severe decline in Bitcoin's price over the last year, then I believe that it will likely see better days if and when Bitcoin's price recovers. Add to that the fact that the company is making tangible acquisitions in its mission to transform into an AI infrastructure play, and I feel confident in recommending MARA as a buy for any portfolio.
