CLSK vs HOOD: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CLSK and HOOD share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CLSK and HOOD exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

CleanSpark is a Las Vegas-based bitcoin mining company that operates data centers, mostly in the southeastern United States, packed with specialized ASIC machines that compete to validate bitcoin transactions and earn newly minted coins plus fees. It makes money primarily by selling some of the bitcoin it mines and by keeping the rest on its balance sheet as a treasury; reported metrics that matter most are operational hash rate (about 50 EH/s as of early 2026), cost to mine each coin (roughly $44,800 in the quarter ended March 2026), and the size of the bitcoin stack it holds (around 13,600 BTC as of June 2026). Because revenue is paid in bitcoin and a chunk of the balance sheet is bitcoin, both the income statement and reported book value swing with the crypto price.

Full CLSK guide

Robinhood Markets (HOOD) is a financial-technology company best known for its commission-free trading app that popularized zero-commission stock investing among younger, first-time investors. Through its app, customers trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency, and the company has expanded into retirement accounts, a cash and debit card product, a premium Robinhood Gold subscription, a securities-lending and yield offering, prediction markets and tokenized stocks. Robinhood makes money in several ways: payment for order flow and transaction-based revenue from equities, options, and crypto trading; net interest income on customer cash, margin lending, and securities lending; and subscription revenue from Gold. Its results are sensitive to trading activity, especially in options and crypto, and to interest rates, which drive its net interest income. Founded in the 2010s and headquartered in the US, Robinhood went public in 2021.

Full HOOD guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CLSK drivers: Scaled, low-cost hash rate; Cheap-power energy footprint.
• HOOD drivers: Growing customer base and products; Net interest income.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: CLSK carries direct bitcoin price exposure: when bitcoin falls, mining revenue and the treasury both decline, and the stock has historically moved more than bitcoin itself. For HOOD, robinhood's transaction-based revenue is sensitive to retail trading activity, which can fall sharply when markets quiet down, hurting results; analysts expect Q3 2026 EPS to come in slightly below the year-earlier quarter.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CLSK if you believe its drivers more; HOOD if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CLSK and HOOD guides.

CLSK. CleanSpark's reported results are tightly correlated with the price of bitcoin, and the three quarters through June 2026 all produced large net losses driven mostly by non-cash marks on its bitcoin holdings. With no earnings to price, the market values CLSK on its coins, hash rate and power footprint: at the $8.80 close on October 16, 2026 its bitcoin reportedly covered about 40% of the market cap, while debt of about $1.79 billion adds leverage. The 14-analyst mean target of about $23.89 sits far above the current price, which shows how wide the range of views on miners has become.

HOOD. Robinhood is valued as a high-growth consumer fintech rather than a mature broker: at about $101 on October 16, 2026 it traded near 45x trailing and 30x forward earnings, with analysts' mean target around $134. Earnings swing with retail trading volume (especially options and crypto) and with interest rates that drive net interest income, so the stock trades on engagement trends as much as trailing fundamentals. The Q3 report on October 27 (revenue consensus about $1.43 billion) is the next checkpoint.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): CLSK shows revenue (ttm) ~$679 million, quarterly revenue (quarter ended jun 2026) ~$138 million (down ~31% YoY), net loss (quarter ended jun 2026) ~$240 million (EPS -$0.39 vs -$0.33 est.), net income (ttm) ~-$1.03 billion; HOOD shows revenue (ttm) ~$4.9 billion, revenue growth (q2 2026, year over year) ~32%, operating margin ~44%, net income (ttm) ~$2.1 billion.

CLSK and HOOD are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CLSK and HOOD exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.