Analyzing Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) & Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY)

Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY) and Community Financial System (NYSE:CBU) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Sphere 3D and Community Financial System’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sphere 3D	-163.45%	-78.14%	-73.36%
Community Financial System	21.26%	11.24%	1.28%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Sphere 3D and Community Financial System, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sphere 3D	1	0	0	0	1.00
Community Financial System	0	4	1	1	2.50

Community Financial System has a consensus price target of $69.75, suggesting a potential upside of 9.75%. Given Community Financial System’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Community Financial System is more favorable than Sphere 3D.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

17.3% of Sphere 3D shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.8% of Community Financial System shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Sphere 3D shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Community Financial System 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.

Risk and Volatility

Sphere 3D has a beta of 3.63, meaning that its share price is 263% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Community Financial System has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sphere 3D and Community Financial System”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sphere 3D	$11.18 million	1.53	-$21.48 million	($3.48)	-1.16
Community Financial System	$1.01 billion	3.30	$210.46 million	$4.12	15.43

Community Financial System has higher revenue and earnings than Sphere 3D. Sphere 3D is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Community Financial System, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Community Financial System beats Sphere 3D on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sphere 3D

Sphere 3D Corp. engages in the bitcoin mining business. It is involved with digital asset mining pool operators to provide computing power to the mining pools. The company is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Community Financial System

Community Bank System, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, institutional, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as interest and noninterest -bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits. It also provides loans, including consumer mortgages; general purpose commercial and industrial loans, and mortgages on commercial properties; paycheck protection program loans; installment loans that are originated through selected dealerships and are secured by automobiles, marine, and other recreational vehicles; personal installment loans and check credit lines of credit for consumers; and home equity products. In addition, the company offers broker-dealer and investment advisory; cash management, investment, and treasury services; asset management services; and employee benefit services, as well as operates as a full-service insurance agency that provides personal and commercial lines of insurance, and other risk management products and services. Further, it offers contribution plan administration, employee benefit trust, collective investment fund, retirement plan administration and benefit consulting, fund administration, transfer agency, actuarial and benefit consulting, and health and welfare consulting services; and act as an investor in residential and commercial real estate activities. Additionally, the company offers wealth management, retirement planning, higher educational planning, fiduciary, risk management, trust, and personal financial planning services; and investment alternatives, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and insurance and advisory products, as well as master recordkeeping services. Community Bank System, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in DeWitt, New York.