MSTR stock price falls after Strategy reports $8.3B unrealized Bitcoin loss

Strategy, the former enterprise software company and now the largest corporate Bitcoin [BTC] holder, had its Q2 earnings call on Thursday, July 30. Michael Saylor outlined some of the talking points in a post on X.

The company holds 843,775 BTC, with a 4.5% BTC yield and a 29,997 BTC gain, or roughly 3.6x growth in Bitcoin per share since 2020. The average acquisition price was $75,531 per coin.

Yet, after a brief surge on Thursday, the MSTR stock noted a 6.14% drop, from $97.59 to $91.6. An unrealized markdown of $8.32 billion on its Bitcoin holdings and a reported net loss of $24.45 per share helped explain the slide.

The Bitcoin sales and the need for rebuilding the premium

While these were encouraging numbers, the company has also been selling Bitcoin. Recently, 3,588 BTC was sold for $216 million, roughly 20% below the average purchase price.

The company believes that “Bitcoin-backed borrowing is not currently the preferred path to build USD reserves”. It reflected the company’s need for liquidity.

Strategy generated $544.5 million in net proceeds from its sale of the MSTR common stock. No new BTC purchases have come in recent weeks, and the company has stated its USD reserve was meant to cover interest payments on outstanding debt and dividend payments on its preferred stock.

AMBCrypto reported that the Market-to-Net Asset Value, or mNAV, has slipped to just 1.03x. The Strategy model is moving away from Bitcoin purchases and towards greater balance sheet flexibility.

Saylor wrote that, through “USD reserves, Bitcoin monetization, repurchases, dividend management, and disciplined issuance”, the company aimed to bring the preferred stock STRC back to $99-$100.

Bitcoin per share is up while MSTR stock sales fuel STRC buybacks

The Bitcoin per share has grown by 5% during the quarter, and the USD reserve was up to $3.75 billion. Market investor Chris Millas wrote that this represented roughly 2.1 years of dividend coverage.

The company has shown a willingness to sell BTC and issue and repurchase securities, showing maturity against evolving market forces.

The company’s focus was on STRC as it acts as the core liquidity engine for its Bitcoin treasury loop. Focusing on returning the preferred stock to par before further Bitcoin acquisitions can be assessed.

For investors, the key question is no longer how much Bitcoin Strategy owns, but how management balances reserve building, preferred-share support, and future Bitcoin accumulation.

Those capital allocation decisions may play a greater role in MSTR’s valuation than headline Bitcoin purchases over the coming quarters.

Final Summary

• The MSTR stock saw a brief rally toward $98 on Thursday but was down just over 6% at press time.
• Strategy has stated a focus on repurchasing its preferred stock to bring it to par while also building a considerable USD reserve.