Contrasting Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY) & Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS)

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) and Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Alerus Financial and Galaxy Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alerus Financial	4.36%	13.38%	1.34%
Galaxy Digital	N/A	1.31%	0.37%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Alerus Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Alerus Financial and Galaxy Digital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alerus Financial	0	4	1	2	2.71
Galaxy Digital	0	2	12	1	2.93

Alerus Financial currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.00%. Galaxy Digital has a consensus price target of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 106.57%. Given Galaxy Digital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Galaxy Digital is more favorable than Alerus Financial.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Alerus Financial and Galaxy Digital”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alerus Financial	$399.92 million	1.62	$17.44 million	$0.66	38.62
Galaxy Digital	$61.36 billion	0.14	-$241.35 million	$0.12	177.50

Alerus Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Galaxy Digital. Alerus Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Galaxy Digital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Alerus Financial beats Galaxy Digital on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, time and savings deposits, checking accounts, and certificates of deposit; and treasury management products, including electronic receivables management, remote deposit capture, cash vault services, merchant services, and other cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, business term loans, lines of credit, and commercial real estate loans, as well as construction and land development loans; consumer lending products, including residential first mortgage loans; installment loans and lines of credit; and second mortgage loans. In addition, it offers retirement plan administration and investment advisory services, employee stock ownership plan, fiduciary services, payroll, health savings accounts, and other benefit services, as well as individual retirement accounts; and financial planning, investment management, personal and corporate trust, estate administration, and custody services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, online banking, mobile banking/wallet, payment, private banking, payroll accounts, flex spending accounts, administration, and government health insurance program services. It offers banking services in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona; and retirement and benefit plans through offices located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado. The company was formerly known as First National Bank North Dakota and changed its name to Alerus Financial Corporation in 2000. Alerus Financial Corporation was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

About Galaxy Digital

Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. is a financial services and an investment management company, which engages in the digital asset, cryptocurrency, and block chain technology sectors. It operates through the following segments: Trading, Principal Investment, Asset Management, Investment Banking, Mining, and Corporate & Other. The Trading segment manages positions in cryptocurrency and other liquid digital assets contributed to the business at the outset and continues to invest and trade in those and related assets. The Principal Investment segment includes portfolio of private principal investments across the block chain ecosystem, including early- and later-stage equity, pre-launch network contributions, and other structured alternative investments. The Asset Management segment manages capital on behalf of third parties in exchange for management fees and performance-based compensation. The Investment Banking segment offers the spectrum of investment banking, including, but not limited to general corporate advisory, mergers and acquisition, transaction advisory, restructuring and capital rising. The Mining segment focuses to provide financial services for North American miners, through its partnerships. The Corporate & Other consists of the partnership’s unallocated corporate overhead and other unallocated costs not identifiable to any of the reportable segments. The company was founded by Michael Edward Novogratz on February 10, 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY.