RIOT Stock
The first crypto stock on our list is Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT). The company owns 7,358 BTC at a market value of $315 million. While Riot Platforms started out as a small patent holding company known as Bioptix, it ditched its original business model in 2017 and turned into a fully dedicated Bitcoin miner.
In order to become a leading BTC mining company, Riot purchased tens of thousands of high quality Antminers from Bitmain developing a massive fleet of high-end miners in the process. Riot achieved an impressive 112,944 miners by the end of November which allow it to produce an average 18.4 BTC every day.
The company sells hundreds of Bitcoins each month to increase its liquidity, but it was still holding 7,358 BTC, with a market value of $315 million, on its balance sheet at the end of November.
As a result of the crypto rally, RIOT stock increased around 72% from November until now. As BTC’s price continues to increase, Riot’s revenues and profits should increase correspondingly since the company mainly depends on selling Bitcoin.
In addition to selling Bitcoin, the company plans to stabilize its long-term operating margins by selling its excess power back to the grid at spot prices. Riot Platforms has a market cap of $3.44 billion and its stock trades at around $16. Additionally, its expected earnings growth rate for next year is 60.1%.
SQ Stock
A second crypto stock to consider is Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ ) which owns 8,027 BTC with a market value of $343 million. Block Inc. offers an online digital and mobile payment platform for consumers. It is also the parent company of Square, Cash App, Spiral, Tidel and TBD.
Block Inc. is an important player in the crypto market since its subsidiary, Spiral, is focused on Bitcoin development. It offers a convenient entry to the crypto market through Cash App, which allows its users to buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin. Additionally, the company’s decentralized TBD platform allows developers to build finance applications to run on programmable blockchains.
In its Q3 earnings results, Block generated $5.62 billion in revenue, of which 43% came from Bitcoin. The company’s gross profit also increased by 21% year-over-year, reaching $1.9 billion this quarter. Meanwhile, Cash App reported 27% increase in gross profit reaching $984 million.
These signs of life for SQ stock are very promising. The company’s performance was squashed in the post-pandemic era, and while it may never reach its pandemic highs of more than $260 per share, it offers a more diversified play for investors looking to benefit from catalysts in the crypto market and a broader recovery in consumer spending.
As for its exposure to crypto, Block shared that it achieved $45 million in bitcoin gross profit. Block sold $2.42 billion worth of crypto to customers, a 37% increase YoY. This notable growth is thanks to the increasing price of BTC as well as greater demand for the digital asset.
Beating earnings expectations and raising guidance helped spur SQ stock on a run. Now up 97% since its earnings, the company could continue running in sympathy with any crypto rallies. Considering that the RSI is significantly overbought at 82 on the daily chart, investors may want to watch SQ stock for a pullback to take a position in 2024.
COIN Stock
Next on the list of best crypto stocks for 2024 is Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN). The company owns around 9,000 BTC at a market value of $385 million.
This company offers a secure online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing cryptocurrency. It provides its customers with a main financial account in the crypto space, a marketplace with liquidity for institutional crypto transactions, and technology and services for developers to build crypto-based applications.
Coinbase can benefit greatly from the establishment of a Bitcoin ETF since it has been selected as a custodian by nine out of twelve spot-traded BTC ETF candidates. This is not surprising, given that BlackRock picked Coinbase to offer crypto services to institutional investors back in August. Although this crypto exchange came under some scrutiny from the SEC, it is still considered one of the most regulated crypto platforms.
COIN stock has climbed a whopping 145% since its earnings despite reporting a decline in Q3 trading volumes from $26 billion in 2022 to $11 billion this quarter. The RSI of 80 on the daily timeframe shows COIN stock is significantly overbought, investors may want to wait for a pullback before taking a position.
Since COIN stock could benefit the most from the spot Bitcoin ETF approval, it is definitely a crypto stock to watch in 2024. Additionally, its expected earnings growth rate for next year is 30.5%.
MARA Stock
A crypto favorite, Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) ranks with the largest holding of Bitcoin out of the four stocks chosen. In fact, the company owns 14,025 BTC at a market value of $600 million, making it one of the largest holders of Bitcoin among publicly traded companies in the US.
MARA is a favorite among crypto stocks and for good reason. As one of the largest, most energy efficient, and most technologically advanced Bitcoin mining companies, MARA could substantially capitalize on the crypto market’s recovery.
So far Marathon Digital Holdings has differentiated itself by investing in the newest technologies for Bitcoin mining. Very recently, MARA announced it was investing $179 million to acquire two new mining sites which are expected to add 390 megawatts of capacity and reduce the cost per coin mined by around 30%.
This all cash deal could be just one of many as MARA works to capitalize on acquisition opportunities ahead of Bitcoin’s halving in 2024. Marathon noted that its has more than $800 million of cash and bitcoin to “capitalize on strategic opportunities, including industry consolidation” ahead of the halving event.
This acquisition announcement has given MARA stock a notable push. The stock has climbed 33% since the announcement but had already climbed 134% since its November earnings. The RSI is notably overbought on the daily timeframe reaching an incredible 87.
Currently, MARA has a market cap of $4.89 billion and its expected earnings growth rate for next year is 74.5%. Those interested in capitalizing on the BTC rally may find opportunities in MARA stock in 2024.
BITO Stock
Unlike the other 4 crypto stocks, this one is a little different. While it does not hold BTC, it moves according to changes in the prices of the crypto making it a great opportunity for investors waiting for the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA: BITO) aims to produce returns that correspond to Bitcoin by tracking Bitcoin futures. However, its not without its disadvantages, for example, its 0.95% expense ratio is much higher than the average expense ratio of equity ETFs at 0.16%.
Because BITO holds Bitcoin futures it is able to more closely track Bitcoin returns than for-profit companies that deal with overhead costs and may have less direct exposure to Bitcoin. On top of that, BITO was one of the best performing ETF’s of 2023.
Its YTD daily total return reached 140.08%, and it offers a yield of 14.98%. Additionally, BITO is up nearly 58% since mid-October the ETF has net assets worth $1.46 billion.
Crypto Stocks Forecast
As the crypto market rallies into the end of 2023, its outlook for 2024 looks particularly bullish. With a number of catalysts ranging from Bitcoin’s halving in April, to interest rate cuts, and potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval, crypto stocks like these could be too good to ignore.
