Analyzing Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) & Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ)

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) and Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

44.5% of Marathon Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Marathon Digital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Core Scientific shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Marathon Digital has a beta of 5.41, meaning that its share price is 441% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Core Scientific has a beta of 5.45, meaning that its share price is 445% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Marathon Digital and Core Scientific”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marathon Digital	$907.09 million	5.23	-$1.31 billion	($5.72)	-2.17
Core Scientific	$319.02 million	22.84	-$288.62 million	($1.14)	-20.11

Core Scientific has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Marathon Digital. Core Scientific is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marathon Digital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Marathon Digital and Core Scientific, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marathon Digital	2	2	7	0	2.45
Core Scientific	2	3	15	1	2.71

Marathon Digital currently has a consensus target price of $18.38, indicating a potential upside of 47.71%. Core Scientific has a consensus target price of $28.14, indicating a potential upside of 22.78%. Given Marathon Digital’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Marathon Digital is more favorable than Core Scientific.

Profitability

This table compares Marathon Digital and Core Scientific’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marathon Digital	-234.83%	-23.20%	-12.51%
Core Scientific	-342.42%	N/A	-50.92%

Summary

Core Scientific beats Marathon Digital on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marathon Digital

MARA Holdings, Inc. operates as a digital asset technology company that mines digital assets with a focus on the bitcoin ecosystem in United States. The company was formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to MARA Holdings, Inc. in August 2024. MARA Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About Core Scientific

Core Scientific, Inc. provides digital asset mining services in North America. It operates through two segments, Mining and Hosting. The company offers blockchain infrastructure, software solutions, and services; and operates data center mining facilities. It also mines digital assets for its own account; and provides hosting services for other large bitcoin miners, which include deployment, monitoring, trouble shooting, optimization, and maintenance of its customers' digital asset mining equipment. In addition, the company provides electrical power, repair, and other infrastructure services to operate, maintain, and earn digital assets; and sells mining equipment to customers. Core Scientific, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dover, Delaware.