Why a $7.3 Million Bet on Core Scientific Looked Smart at Quarter-End but Got Tested 30% Later

On November 13, Zurich-based PSquared Asset Management disclosed a new position in Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ), acquiring 405,800 shares valued at approximately $7.28 million.

What Happened

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated November 13, PSquared Asset Management AG established a new position in Core Scientific during the third quarter. The firm acquired 405,800 shares, bringing its end-of-quarter holding to $7.28 million, or 5.78% of its $125.97 million in U.S. equity assets. Core Scientific did not appear in the fund's previous quarterly filing.

What Else to Know

Top holdings after the filing:

• NYSE: K: $42.77 million (34.0% of AUM)
• NYSEMKT: SLSR: $25.04 million (19.9% of AUM)
• NYSE: TECK: $18.99 million (15.1% of AUM)
• NASDAQ: TASK: $11.34 million (9.0% of AUM)
• NASDAQ: HOLX: $8.42 million (6.7% of AUM)

As of Friday, Core Scientific shares were priced at $15.29, up 5.5% over the past year and well underperforming the S&P 500, which is up about 15% in the same period.

Company Overview

Company Snapshot

• Core Scientific provides digital asset mining, blockchain infrastructure, and colocation hosting services, generating revenue from both proprietary mining and third-party hosting contracts.
• The company operates a dual business model: mining digital assets for its own account and offering datacenter colocation and hosting services for institutional-scale blockchain clients.
• Primary customers include large-scale blockchain miners and enterprises seeking secure, high-performance infrastructure for distributed ledger operations in North America.

Core Scientific, Inc. provides blockchain infrastructure and digital asset mining services, operating datacenter facilities across North America. The company develops blockchain-based platforms and software solutions, mines digital assets for its own account, and provides hosting and colocation services for large-scale blockchain clients.

Foolish Take

At quarter-end, Core Scientific looked a lot like a stabilizing digital infrastructure play. Hosting contracts were expanding, the balance sheet had improved post-restructuring, and the proposed CoreWeave merger offered a clean path to monetizing power-heavy data center assets. For a concentrated fund, the position fit a familiar playbook: buy into optionality while sentiment was still repairing.

That context is critical because a steep stock drawdown did not occur until late October, after Core Scientific formally terminated its merger agreement with CoreWeave when shareholders failed to approve the deal. Shares have fallen nearly 30% as investors repriced the loss of a clear catalyst and questioned the pace of the company’s pivot toward high-density colocation and AI-adjacent workloads. Operationally, however, little changed overnight. Core Scientific still controls valuable power infrastructure and continues to shift capacity away from pure bitcoin mining toward hosting and compute services. But without the merger, execution risk moved back to center stage.

Glossary

13F assets: U.S. equity holdings that institutional investment managers must report quarterly to the SEC.
Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients by a fund or firm.
Position: The amount of a particular security or asset held by an investor or fund.
Net position change: The difference in the number or value of shares held after a transaction compared to before.
Colocation hosting: Providing space, power, and security for clients’ computing hardware in a third-party data center.
Proprietary mining: Mining digital assets for a company's own account, rather than for clients or third parties.
Trailing twelve months (TTM): The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.
Digital asset mining: Using computing power to validate blockchain transactions and earn digital currencies as rewards.
Blockchain infrastructure: The hardware and software systems supporting blockchain networks and applications.
Distributed ledger: A digital record of transactions shared and synchronized across multiple sites or participants.
Institutional-scale: Refers to services or operations designed for large organizations, not individual consumers.
Datacenter: A facility housing computer systems and networking equipment for data processing and storage.

Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends TaskUs and Teck Resources. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.