CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK) stock is trading lower Monday afternoon as renewed weakness in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) weighs on crypto-linked stocks despite a series of upbeat analyst notes on the company's AI ambitions. Here’s what investors need to know.

• CLSK is taking a hit from negative sentiment. See what is driving the movement here.

What To Know: Last week, CleanSpark reported fourth-quarter results that showed strong year-over-year growth but reported a small loss and revenue that came in below Wall Street expectations.

Management highlighted a strategic pivot toward high-performance computing and AI infrastructure, outlining plans to repurpose data centers such as its 250-megawatt Sandersville, Georgia site into high-margin colocation campuses.

Analysts at Chardan, H.C. Wainwright and Needham reiterated Buy ratings, citing multibillion-dollar AI/HPC colocation potential and the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars in recurring revenue once long-term leases are signed.

For now, however, the stock remains tied to the crypto cycle. Bitcoin traded near $84,500 Monday, down about 1.5% on the day and roughly 23% over the past month, after a sharp pullback blamed partly on rising Japanese government bond yields and more than $600 million in crypto liquidations. Major tokens from Ethereum to Dogecoin are also in the red.

CleanSpark operates large-scale Bitcoin mining facilities and holds more than $1 billion worth of BTC on its balance sheet, so falling prices cut directly into mining profitability and the value of its holdings.

As Bitcoin slides, investors typically mark down crypto miners as leveraged plays on the token, pressuring CleanSpark shares even as its longer-term AI infrastructure story develops.

Benzinga Edge Rankings: Benzinga Edge stock rankings show CleanSpark with a Momentum Score of 75.9, one of four critical scores designed to help investors quickly spot the strongest and weakest stocks to buy or sell.

CLSK Price Action: CleanSpark shares were down 3.64% at $14.57 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Read Also: Binance Founder CZ Reveals ‘Perfect Time’ To Buy and Sell Bitcoin: ‘Sell When There Is Maximum Greed, and Buy When There Is Maximum Fear’

How To Buy CLSK Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for CleanSpark – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

Image: Shutterstock