Core Scientific Cuts Hashrate Outlook, Q1 Revenue Misses Estimates

Core Scientific (CORZ), the world's largest publicly traded bitcoin miner by hashrate, reported first-quarter revenue of $192.5 million, falling short of analysts' average estimate of $200.3 million, according to FactSet.

• Revenue was up 255% from the same quarter last year, mainly because of increases in digital asset mining and hosting revenue. That was partly offset by a decrease in equipment sales, the company said in a statement.
• Core Scientific cut its 2022 hashrate outlook to 30-32 exahashes per second from its previous outlook of 40-42 EH/s, and now sees total power of about 1 gigawatt, compared with its previous forecast of between 1.2 and 1.3 gigawatts.
• “We have worked to de-risk our 2022 growth to between 30 and 32 exahash, fully supported by our existing capital structure,” CEO Mike Levitt said in the statement. “We preserve the flexibility to expand beyond our plan, should capital market conditions improve.”
• The miner also reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $93 million, which was up 644% from the first quarter of last year, but below analysts' average estimate of $111 million.
• The miner said its mining segment had a gross margin of 48% in the first quarter, compared with 83% in the prior-year period. The decrease was driven by higher miner depreciation, higher power costs and lower average price per bitcoin mined.
• Shares of the miner were up 1.3% in after-hours trading on Thursday, while bitcoin traded down roughly 2% over the last 24 hours to around $28,000. The stock has dropped 65% this year, roughly on pace with peers Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Blockchain (RIOT).

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