Shares of MARA Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) climbed 6.6% to $14.79 in early afternoon trading on Friday, outperforming both bitcoin and the broader Nasdaq. The move came as investors digested new financial details from a Thursday filing regarding the company's planned acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power, a key step in its strategic pivot from bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The filing revealed that Long Ridge reported adjusted EBITDA of $25.4 million for the first quarter, while MARA itself posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.04 billion for the same period. The contrast highlights the potential value of the acquisition, which MARA announced in April at a total consideration of approximately $1.5 billion, including debt. The deal includes a 505-megawatt natural gas plant in Hannibal, Ohio, and land earmarked for a data center campus.
MARA CEO Fred Thiel has described power as "the scarce input in AI," and the company expects the Long Ridge acquisition to boost its total owned and operated power capacity by about 65%. The site is seen as having all the key components needed for a data center campus, and MARA has already received interest from potential tenants, including hyperscale cloud providers.
The stock's gain added roughly $347 million to MARA's market capitalization, based on the 381.27 million shares outstanding as of April 30. That is close to the $353 million pre-tax impact MARA said a $10,000 change in bitcoin would have had as of March 31, underscoring how the company's valuation remains tied to its bitcoin holdings even as it diversifies.
As of March 31, MARA held 35,303 bitcoin, valued at approximately $2.4 billion, or $68,222 per coin. During the first quarter, the company sold 20,880 bitcoin for $1.5 billion, with proceeds used partly to repurchase convertible notes maturing in 2030 and 2031. Thiel characterized the sales as a "strategic capital allocation move."
Citizens analyst Greg Miller initiated coverage on MARA with an Outperform rating and a $24 price target, citing growing demand for "powered capacity" as miners redirect energy from bitcoin mining to high-performance computing for hyperscale clients. The target implies significant upside from current levels, reflecting optimism about MARA's transformation.
MARA still needs to complete the Long Ridge acquisition, which is expected to close in the second half of 2026 pending regulatory approvals. Construction of new AI and IT infrastructure in Ohio is slated to begin in early 2027, with initial capacity coming online by mid-2028. The company projects that the acquisition will contribute around $144 million in annualized adjusted EBITDA, based on performance in the second half of 2025.
Bitcoin itself traded at about $59,959, up 0.5% on the day, but the stock's move was driven more by the Long Ridge filing than by cryptocurrency price action. The divergence underscores how MARA is increasingly being valued not just as a bitcoin proxy but as an emerging player in the AI infrastructure space.
