What happened
Cryptocurrency mining company HIVE Blockchain Technologies (HIVE -1.98%) couldn't unearth a stock market win on Wednesday. The company's share price sank by almost 8% on the day after it released quarterly earnings that revealed a deep net loss, although it managed to grow its revenue at a double-digit rate.
So what
For HIVE's first quarter of its fiscal 2023, the company earned revenue of just over $44 million for a roughly 13% improvement over the same period last year. The story was very different on the bottom line, however, as the company flipped dramatically to a steep net loss of $95.3 million in vivid contrast to the $23.5 million profit of Q1 2022.
Any observer of the cryptocurrency space can surmise why HIVE's loss was so deep. Basically, this was due to the drop in value of the three high-profile coins the company has been active in over that period of time: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic.
The crypto winter has been a frigid one. As a result, in this latest quarter, HIVE had to sharply revalue its holdings. It also lost a considerable amount on the sale of coins. Together, these two items totaled a whopping $155 million-plus in expenses.
Now what
Few investors are hot on cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency stocks just now, and in HIVE's case, this is compounded by those gallons of fresh red ink on the bottom line. Sentiment has to improve on at least one of those three coins for the company to have any hope of fully escaping this latest bear hug.
