Hi Claude - i just answered a question on HIVE and Bitfarm yesterday: See my response below:
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Hi there,
Personally, not a fan of either of these companies. In fact, although they have had nice run-ups neither tracks the price of Bitcoin really well. If you are looking for exposure to Bitcoin, the best bet is to buy the coin itself or look at the new ETF (QBTC) as it is intended to match the price of Bitcoin.
Last quarter, Hive only generated +8% YOY in mining income. Quite low considering how high bitcoin has gone. It is actually more of a play on Euretheum which is their main source of mining right now. That being said, the higher BTC and ETH go, the higher the margins at the company. Last quarter it posted a profit on record prices. The more prices jump, the more profitable the company will be. However, I can't make sense of the market action. BTC/ETH have been on steady uptrend all year, yet the company's stock price was relatively flat until it shot up in December.
Same goes for Bitfarm - did nothing until it shot up over the past week or so. This however, is likely because they announced they deployed more mining equipment have place a significant order for more. At least in Bitfarm's case, I can trace it back to a specific reason. Hive's tracks to its quarterly results, but nothing there was particularly groundbreaking outside of the fact it was profitable.
I am by no means an expert in this area, but the miners themselves have overhead costs that holding the coin or an ETF that tracks the coin do not have. I would also expect these companies to be even more volatile that Bitcoin itself so be prepared for significant volatility.
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HUT is the same type of mining company. As they have outlined, it is a challenging environment for bitminers after the "bitcoin halving where bitcoin production was cut in half while the network hash rate continued to rise" In essence, it is becoming more difficult to mine for Bitcoin.
IMO the jury is still out on these mining companies as viable investments for investors.
Mat