HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) & American Express (NYSE:AXP) Critical Contrast

American Express (NYSE:AXP) and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares American Express and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Express	$74.17 billion	2.91	$10.83 billion	$16.03	19.71
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	$400.50 million	13.77	$184.55 million	$1.36	31.58

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital. American Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

American Express has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

American Express pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. American Express pays out 23.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital pays out 125.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Express has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Express shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for American Express and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Express	1	13	8	0	2.32
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	0	2	10	0	2.83

American Express presently has a consensus target price of $357.47, suggesting a potential upside of 13.14%. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.78%. Given American Express’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Express is more favorable than HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital.

Profitability

This table compares American Express and HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Express	15.13%	33.95%	3.73%
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital	46.08%	12.06%	3.99%

Summary

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital beats American Express on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. The company’s products and services include credit card, charge card, banking, and other payment and financing products; network services; expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services. It also provides merchant acquisition and processing, servicing and settlement, point-of-sale marketing, and information products and services for merchants; and fraud prevention services, as well as the design and operation of customer loyalty programs. In addition, the company operates lounges at airports under Centurion Lounge brand name. It sells its products and services to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations through mobile and online applications, affiliate marketing, customer referral programs, third-party service providers and business partners, direct mail, telephone, in-house sales teams, and direct response advertising. American Express Company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the investment of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable infrastructure markets in the United States. The company’s portfolio includes equity investments, commercial and government receivables, real estate, and debt securities. It invests in climate solutions, including Behind-the-Meter, which distributes energy projects that reduce energy usage or cost through heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as lighting, energy controls, roofs, windows, building shells, and/or combined heat and power systems; Grid-Connected, a renewable energy projects that deploy cleaner energy sources, such as solar, solar-plus-storage, and wind to generate power production; and Fuels, Transport, and Nature, a range of real assets spanning high-emitting economic sectors other than the power grid such as transportation and fuels comprising renewable natural gas plants, transportation fleet enhancements, ecological restoration, and other projects. HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland.