MicroStrategy stock MSTR hits 3-month high after CEO's exit

cointelegraph.com:

MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock opened higher on Aug. 3 as investors digested the news of its CEO Michael Saylor's exit after a depressive quarterly earnings report.

On the daily chart, MSTR's price surged by nearly 14.5% to $324.55 per share, the highest level since May 6.

The stock's intraday gains came as a part of a broader recovery that started on May 12 at $134. Since then, MSTR has grown by 142% versus Nasdaq's 26.81% gains in the same period.

The Aug. 3 MSTR rally came a day after MicroStrategy reported a billion dollar loss in its second quarter (Q2) earnings call. Interestingly, the company's major Bitcoin exposure was a large reason for its poor quarterly performance.

To recap: MicroStrategy is an information technology firm that provides business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. But one of its primarily corporate strategy is to invest in Bitcoin to hold it long-term.

Unfortunately, holding Bitcoin has cost MicroStrategy an impairment loss of $917.84 million from its129,698 BTC holdingsin Q2, primarily due to the crypto's 50% year-to-date (YTD) price drop. In comparison, MSTR plunged 42% in the same period.

Furthermore, MicroStrategy's revenue fell 2.6% year-over-year to $122.07 million. The net quarterly losses prompted Saylor—who has strongly backed the Bitcoin investment strategy since August 2020—to quit as the firm's CEO and become an executive chairman.

MSTR responded positively to Saylor's resignation and the appointment of Phong Le, President of MicroStrategy, as his replacement, suggesting that investors are comfortable with the change in leadership.

MSTR's course for the remainder of 2022 depends largely on Bitcoin's performance, given their consistently positive correlation in recent