Critical Survey: Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) and BTC Digital (NASDAQ:BTCT)

BTC Digital (NASDAQ:BTCT) and Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for BTC Digital and Atlanticus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BTC Digital	1	0	0	0	1.00
Atlanticus	0	2	4	0	2.67

Atlanticus has a consensus target price of $88.75, indicating a potential upside of 61.92%. Given Atlanticus’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Atlanticus is more favorable than BTC Digital.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BTC Digital and Atlanticus”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BTC Digital	$11.68 million	0.88	-$1.99 million	($1.20)	-1.14
Atlanticus	$1.31 billion	0.63	$111.30 million	$5.63	9.74

Atlanticus has higher revenue and earnings than BTC Digital. BTC Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlanticus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

BTC Digital has a beta of 5.71, meaning that its stock price is 471% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlanticus has a beta of 1.95, meaning that its stock price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

7.3% of BTC Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.2% of Atlanticus shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of BTC Digital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 50.4% of Atlanticus shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares BTC Digital and Atlanticus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BTC Digital	N/A	N/A	N/A
Atlanticus	7.46%	22.86%	2.86%

Summary

Atlanticus beats BTC Digital on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BTC Digital

BTC Digital Ltd. a crypto asset technology company engages in bitcoin mining business. It is also involved in mining machines resale and rental business. The company was formerly known as Meten Holding Group Ltd. and changed its name to BTC Digital Ltd. in August 2023. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

About Atlanticus

Atlanticus Holdings Corporation, a financial technology company, provides credit and related financial services and products to customers the United States. It operates in two segments, Credit as a Service, and Auto Finance. The Credit as a Service segment originates a range of consumer loan products, such as private label and general purpose credit cards originated by lenders through various channels, including retail and healthcare, direct mail solicitation, digital marketing, and partnerships with third parties; and offers credit to their customers for the purchase of various goods and services, including consumer electronics, furniture, elective medical procedures, healthcare, and home-improvements by partnering with retailers, healthcare providers, and other service providers. This segment also offers loan servicing, such as risk management and customer service outsourcing for third parties; and engages in testing and investment activities in consumer finance technology platforms. The Auto Finance segment purchases and/or services loans secured by automobiles from or for a pre-qualified network of independent automotive dealers and automotive finance companies in the buy-here, pay-here, and used car business. This segment also provides floor plan financing and installment lending products. It also invests in and services portfolios of credit card receivables. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.