CLSK vs MARA Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
CleanSpark emphasizes operational efficiency and disciplined, opportunistic growth, while MARA Holdings pursues scale and one of the largest bitcoin treasuries among public miners, with early exploration into energy and AI/HPC diversification. Both are highly leveraged to bitcoin price, but MARA's larger treasury amplifies that sensitivity further.
Use this CLSK vs MARA comparison to weigh operational discipline against scale and treasury size. CleanSpark's efficiency focus may offer steadier execution, while MARA's larger bitcoin holdings provide more direct leveraged upside (and downside) to bitcoin price swings.
CLSK holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CLSK leads on both 1-year return (-59.70%) and forward P/E quality (-7.76x vs -45.95x for MARA), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, MARA is growing revenue faster (-26.70%), while CLSK maintains the higher operating margin (-165.19%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for CLSK (+116.53%) than for MARA (+92.84%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Prefer a bitcoin miner with a track record of disciplined, opportunistic capital allocation
- Value operational efficiency and cost control over sheer treasury size
- Want geographic diversification across multiple state power markets
- Are comfortable with high bitcoin-price sensitivity common across mining stocks
- Want maximum leveraged exposure to bitcoin price through one of the largest public mining treasuries
- Believe diversification into energy and AI/HPC infrastructure can add long-term optionality
- Are comfortable with a company that has had more execution and compliance bumps historically
- Prioritize scale of hash rate and bitcoin holdings over efficiency-per-dollar metrics
| Metric | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 23.4 | 23.8 |
| AI ranki | #3471 | #3261 |
| Latest closei | $9.35 | $8.33 |
| 1M returni | -25.91% | -25.89% |
| 3M returni | -27.52% | -27.06% |
| 6M returni | -18.13% | -27.88% |
| 1Y returni | -59.70% | -63.53% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $4.03K (-59.7%) started 2025-10-15 | $3.65K (-63.5%) started 2025-10-15 |
| 5Y ago | $5.92K (-40.8%) started 2021-10-15 | $1.7K (-83.0%) started 2021-10-15 |
| 10Y ago | $2.68K (-73.2%) started 2016-11-16 | $2.21K (-77.9%) started 2016-10-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $2.82B | $3.73B |
| Trailing P/Ei | N/A | N/A |
| Forward P/Ei | -7.76 | -45.95 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 6.51 | 7.30 |
| Analyst targeti | $23.81 | $18.61 |
| Target upsidei | +116.53% | +92.84% |
| Metric | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | -30.50% | -26.70% |
| Earnings growthi | N/A | N/A |
| EPS growthi | N/A | N/A |
| FCF margini | +7.20% | -145.25% |
| Operating margini | -165.19% | -265.21% |
| Profit margini | -146.90% | 0.00% |
| ROIC proxyi | -68.62% | -105.57% |
| Return on equityi | -68.62% | -105.57% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 0.00% |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 3.89 | 5.35 |
| Debt/equityi | 234.72 | 140.16 |
| Current ratioi | 5.91 | 0.89 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.34 | 0.76 |
Over the past year, CLSK and MARA have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.84), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -59.70% | -63.53% |
| CAGRi | -59.72% | -63.55% | |
| Volatilityi | 91.94% | 84.83% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.58 | -0.83 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.85 | -1.20 | |
| Max drawdowni | 64.74% | 70.53% | |
| Current drawdowni | 59.70% | 63.53% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 44.15% | 49.28% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 45.64% | 50.72% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.13% | 18.72% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 34.35% | 31.74% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -40.79% | -82.96% |
| CAGRi | -9.95% | -29.81% | |
| Volatilityi | 101.34% | 105.85% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.35 | 0.14 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.55 | 0.22 | |
| Max drawdowni | 92.00% | 95.86% | |
| Current drawdowni | 60.04% | 89.05% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 57.41% | 78.61% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 61.34% | 79.81% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.13% | 27.03% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 34.89% | 43.81% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | -73.21% | -77.94% |
| CAGRi | -12.44% | -14.04% | |
| Volatilityi | 184.25% | 145.06% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.51 | 0.49 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.15 | 0.92 | |
| Max drawdowni | 98.56% | 98.99% | |
| Current drawdowni | 87.19% | 89.05% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 74.85% | 77.39% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 78.10% | 80.16% | |
| Max daily dropi | 52.19% | 40.86% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 63.11% | 52.63% |
| Category | CLSK | MARA |
|---|---|---|
| Company | CleanSpark, Inc. | MARA Holdings, Inc. |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Capital Markets | Capital Markets |
| Core business | Bitcoin mining company focused on low-cost energy sourcing and operational efficiency, operating facilities across Georgia, Mississippi, Wyoming, and other states, with an opportunistic acquisition strategy for undervalued mining sites and equipment. | One of the largest Bitcoin mining companies by hash rate and bitcoin holdings, formerly known as Marathon Digital, pursuing an aggressive treasury strategy of holding most mined bitcoin on its balance sheet while also exploring diversification into energy and AI/HPC infrastructure. |
| Investor focus | Hash rate growth per dollar of capital deployed, energy cost per bitcoin mined, fleet efficiency, and disciplined balance-sheet management relative to larger peers. | Hash rate growth, size of bitcoin treasury holdings, energy strategy diversification, and progress on any AI/HPC infrastructure initiatives. |
- Track record of acquiring mining sites and equipment opportunistically at favorable valuations
- Emphasis on operational efficiency and cost discipline relative to scale-at-all-costs strategies
- Diversified facility footprint across multiple states reduces single-region power and regulatory risk
- One of the largest corporate bitcoin treasuries among public miners, offering leveraged upside to bitcoin price appreciation
- Substantial scale in hash rate gives it cost advantages and negotiating leverage on power contracts
- Exploring diversification into energy generation and AI/HPC infrastructure for optionality beyond pure mining
- High sensitivity to bitcoin price and mining difficulty adjustments that can compress margins quickly
- Smaller balance sheet and bitcoin treasury than MARA, potentially limiting downturn resilience
- Continued reliance on capital markets to fund fleet expansion
- Very high bitcoin-price sensitivity given the large size of its held treasury relative to operating cash flow
- History of operational and execution challenges (facility management, past accounting/compliance issues) versus more efficiency-focused peers
- Diversification efforts into energy or AI/HPC remain early-stage and unproven relative to core mining economics
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