Strive Adds 15,124 BTC in October After Reporting $509M Q3 Profit

Bitcoin treasury company and asset manager Strive (NASDAQ: $ASST) reported third-quarter net income of $509.0 million on Friday, driven by unrealized gains on its Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) holdings, and disclosed that it purchased another 15,124 Bitcoin in October.

The reported profit was largely an accounting gain rather than a reflection of operating performance. Strive generated just $2.7 million in quarterly revenue against $38.7 million in operating expenses, with results boosted by a $533.7 million unrealized gain on its digital assets. Despite the quarterly profit, the company remains at a net loss of $14.5 million for the first nine months of the year. 

According to the company's press release, net income per diluted share was $5.24. Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to common stockholders totaled $494.6 million, or $5.46 per diluted share, after accounting for $34.2 million in preferred stock dividends. Revenue consisted primarily of $1.6 million in investment advisory fees and $1.1 million from the medical device business acquired through Strive's merger with Semler Scientific. Operating expenses also included a $14.7 million impairment charge related to a medical device research and development intangible asset.

Strive acquired 8,136 Bitcoin during the third quarter and 20,373 in the first nine months of the year, before adding another 15,124 between Oct. 1 and Oct. 30. According to The Block's calculations, the latest purchases bring its total holdings to 43,124 Bitcoin, worth approximately $3.25 billion, up from roughly 28,000 at the end of the third quarter. Strive ranks fourth among publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies and needs another 876 Bitcoin to move into second place.

The company reported a Bitcoin yield, which measures the change in Bitcoin holdings per share, of 18.5% for the third quarter, 63.2% year to date and 19.3% for October. Strive cautioned that the metric should not be interpreted as a measure of investment return or income.

Much of the buying has been financed through preferred stock issuance. Strive closed a public offering of 7 million shares of its 15.00% Series A Perpetual SATS preferred stock on Oct. 20, generating approximately $609.0 million in net proceeds. The company subsequently announced a $1.0 billion at-the-market offering program to sell additional shares. As of Oct. 30, Strive held $490.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, as well as $50.1 million of Strategy's (NASDAQ: $MSTR) STRC preferred stock. Its preferred shares carry perpetual dividend obligations and rank ahead of common stock, a distinction the company highlighted when discussing its Bitcoin-related performance metrics.

Chairman and CEO Matthew Cole said Strive's strong Bitcoin yield has been the primary driver of its common stock outperforming Bitcoin this year. He added that, following the SATS issuance, the company has "never been in a better position" to generate long-term returns exceeding Bitcoin's performance for common shareholders.

Strive also said it is evaluating additional opportunities to deploy its balance sheet, including banking, brokerage, decentralized finance, reinsurance, structured asset-backed securities and tokenization.

According to CryptoProwl's stock ratings data, HC Wainwright reiterated its Buy rating on Strive on Friday while lowering its price target to $40 from $42. The revised target implies approximately 96% upside from the stock's current price of $20.40.

Shares have declined more than 31% over the past 30 days, compared with an approximately 12% drop in Bitcoin.