As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 9, 2026.

An $885.3 million unrealized mark-to-market gain on bitcoin holdings produced the earnings beat, while revenue fell year over year and missed consensus. The operating story now rides on Long Ridge closing and two data center leases management admits could slip into 2027.

MARA Holdings reported Q3 2026 GAAP earnings per share of $1.28, beating expectations against a consensus estimate of negative $0.10. That gap is almost entirely explained by a single line item: an $885.3 million unrealized mark-to-market gain on its bitcoin holdings, up from a $343.1 million gain in the same quarter a year earlier. Strip that paper gain away and the operating picture looks quite different.

On the revenue line, MARA brought in $164.2 million, missing the $176.1 million consensus by 6.76% and falling 34.9% from the $252.4 million it posted in Q3 2025. Management pointed to a 37% drop in the average price of bitcoin mined as the primary culprit, a swing that subtracted $94.8 million from the top line on its own. Modestly higher production, 24.4 bitcoin mined per day versus 23.3 a year earlier, offset only a small portion of that price headwind.

The revenue trend over the past nine quarters underlines the challenge. Sales peaked at $252.4 million in Q3 2025 and have now declined for four consecutive quarters, sitting at their lowest point in that stretch. MARA's energized hashrate did rise 18% to 71.2 EH/s, and cost per petahash per day improved 2% to $30.8, so the mining operation is becoming more efficient even as the revenue it generates shrinks.

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MARA is actively trying to pivot beyond pure bitcoin mining, and Q3 brought several concrete steps in that direction. Its Long Ridge natural gas plant acquisition received FERC approval and is expected to close by year-end, with authorized output set to rise from 485 MW toward its full 505 MW nameplate capacity in the first half of 2027. Subsidiary Exaion also signed a four-year, $79 million take-or-pay GPU-as-a-service contract with its first U.S. customer, and the broader Exaion pipeline now represents more than $3 billion in total contract value, though that figure is not yet contracted or committed.

The clearest near-term signpost for investors is whether MARA can close two data center leases before year-end 2026, a target management explicitly flagged while also cautioning that the timing could slip into 2027. The company also noted that convertible note holders have puts exercisable next year, and after the quarter closed, the board authorized a share repurchase program of up to $500 million. How MARA balances those capital demands against its infrastructure buildout will determine whether the pivot story holds up.

Sources

Mentioned: MARA