Bitfarms Ltd. ( NASDAQ: BITF ) stock gained as much as 5.2% in Friday premarket trading as Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage of the bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) miner with an Overweight rating, on expectations that the accelerated timeframe of its hashrate guidance appears doable. On Monday, the company said it expects to reach six exahash per second (EH/s) of computing power the end of Q3, compared with end-2023 in the prior goal, after posting a narrower first-quarter loss per share. Even so, shares of Bitfarms ( BITF ) plunged 39.5% from a year ago, in a move that analyst Josh Siegler attributed to "an ongoing crypto winter." Bitcoin mining companies continue to trade as a group as a derivative of the underlying token: Bitcoin," he wrote in a note. He contended that BITF could see "significant upside" if its near-term hash rate target is achieved "while demonstrating improved free cash flow and unit economics." He also praised the fact that the company's cash expenses have been improving, as well as having reduced its debt balance. BITF's intraday rise comes even as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) continued its decline, slipping 1.2% to $26.92K as of shortly before 9:00 a.m. ET. Siegler's Overweight rating disagrees with the SA Quant system rating of Hold and aligns with the average Wall Street analyst rating of Buy. More on Bitfarms Bitfarms: Strategic Genius Preparing For The Halving Bitfarms: Time To Play Catch Up Bitfarms Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
