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Riot was originally a medical device maker called Bioptix, but it abandoned that business four years ago and ordered Bitcoin mining equipment.
Those transformations were abrupt, but shares of Riot and Marathon skyrocketed as Bitcoin’s price rallied toward an all-time high of over $68,000 last November.
Riot and Marathon both placed massive orders from Bitmain, the world’s largest producer of ASIC miners, to build their mining fleets.
Riot had deployed 46,375 miners by the end of April, and it expects to deploy approximately 120,150 miners by January.
However, both companies face slower growth in 2022 as Bitcoin’s value dips.
Bitcoin’s price has been declining, but energy costs have been rising.
Riot and Marathon both trade at about 10 times forward earnings, and both stocks could recover if Bitcoin’s price rebounds.
Second, Riot’s debt-to-equity ratio of 0.1 is much lower than Marathon’s ratio of 1 — which was boosted by a big convertible debt offering last year.
Even so, Riot is still a speculative, all-in bet on Bitcoin.