American Bitcoin Corp. (NASDAQ:ABTC) CEO Mike Ho sidestepped questions on Monday about selling Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to fund equity buybacks, a move some other companies in the industry have pursued.
American Bitcoin’s ‘North Star’
During American Bitcoin’s second-quarter earnings call, Ho was questioned about the company’s treasury management strategy and whether it would contemplate selling Bitcoin to improve business economics, similar to the approach taken by Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR).
The CEO stressed the company’s commitment to its “North Star,” i.e, enhancing Bitcoin per share—the amount of Bitcoin held on the balance sheet for every share outstanding.
Ho highlighted that the company’s Bitcoin holdings grew by 14% in the second quarter, while the number of outstanding shares rose by about 3%. This led to an approximate 11% increase in Bitcoin ownership per share.
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Q2 Earnings at a Glance
American Bitcoin’s strategy combines large-scale mining operations with at-the-market Bitcoin purchases to accelerate the growth of its strategic reserve.
The company posted second-quarter revenue of $67.015 million, falling short of the $73 million analysts had expected. It reported a loss per share of $0.80, missing the Street consensus estimate of $0.15 by a wide margin.
Mining revenue rose 8% quarter-over-quarter, while revenue per Bitcoin mined fell 5%.
‘We Are Absolute Bitcoin Maximalists’
Meanwhile, Eric Trump, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, used the opportunity to reiterate his long-standing belief in Bitcoin.
“We are absolute Bitcoin maximalists,” he said. “I mean, Bitcoin is obviously still leading the way. Cryptocurrency in general, but Bitcoin has such an incredible future.”
American Bitcoin started trading on the Nasdaq Exchange in September of last year. It currently holds 8,300 BTC, worth $527 million, making it the 16th-largest corporate BTC holder.
However, the company’s path since launch has been far from smooth—the stock has plunged 95% since going public.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $63,746.30, up 1.63% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
American Bitcoin shares fell 2.22% in after-hours trading after closing 5.98% higher at $5.85 during Monday’s regular trading session.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings show the ABTC stock is trending weakly across short-, medium- and long-term horizons.
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