JPMorgan Downgrades MARA Holdings to Underweight on Strategy

JPMorgan downgraded MARA Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) to Underweight from Neutral and lowered its price target to $11 from $13, citing concerns over the bitcoin miner's capital-light data center strategy and ongoing profitability challenges, according to an Investing.com report.

MARA plans to participate in the artificial intelligence data center market via a joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures by contributing powered land sites, while Starwood handles design, development, tenant sourcing, and operations.

Earnings Misses and Profitability Pressures

The analyst downgrade follows a series of financial headwinds for the cryptocurrency mining firm. Marathon Digital reported a Q2 2026 loss of $1.60 per share on revenue of $174.9 million, missing analysts' expectations of a $0.35 profit and $208.37 million in revenue, according to the report.

Additionally, MARA reported negative adjusted EBITDA over the past three quarters. Its EBITDA stands at negative $1.88 billion over the last twelve months, requiring bitcoin to maintain a price of $80,000 for the company to break even.

Broader Market Context for Financial Institutions

As equity analysts reassess the valuations of crypto-linked infrastructure plays, major banking institutions are navigating separate market trajectories. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) traded at $352.49, up 0.67% as of September 15, 2026, according to Finnhub market data.

The shift by MARA toward a joint venture model for data centers attempts to capture high-demand compute infrastructure without shouldering the full construction burden, but analysts remain cautious about execution risks in a competitive real estate and power sector.