For once I tend to agree with you. The higher the market cap of bitcoin, and the further the mining lags behind the price development of bitcoin, the larger the arbitrage opportunity, giving bigger hardware players a reason to get involved.

Bitcoin has been hijacked as a safe haven against the coming fiat currency crisis and this puts off all valuation attempts for bitcoin, since now the price becomes disconnected from the longterm value (as a safe haven bitcoin benefits from any short-term crisis).

As such the recent run-up in bitcoin price, albeit increasing the overall profitability of AM, has been a quite bearish development for AM in terms of bitcoin denominated share price since it invites for bigger and stronger competition, forcing AM to get a better stand as a niche player.

Having a stronger competition means that less of the future mining income will goto AM, which strengthens the argument that AM needs to find a strategy to add additional revenue streams. Simply reducing the overall cost structure won't cut it in the event of an escalating bitcoin price.

addendum: That said - I think there is a sweet spot for building a portfolio to hedge against various bitcoin price developments, i.e. a ratio between #bitcoins:#AMshares. The exact amount is likely dependent on the personal preference. At the current time a 1:2 ratio might be prudent, at a $4000/btc level a 1:1 ratio, at a $16000/btc level a 1:0.5 ratio.... you can comment on that and what you find appropriate...

addendum: The above is based on a current market evaluation of AM at 10% of mining revenue, giving AM a valuation of 800,000 btc. That makes the current AM shares rather cheap... I recommend loading up on them up to a point which you're comfortable with... (based on the ratio above)