Reviewing Katapult (NASDAQ:KPLT) and Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT)

Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT) and Katapult (NASDAQ:KPLT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Green Dot has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Katapult has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Green Dot and Katapult’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Green Dot	-1.14%	6.92%	1.04%
Katapult	3.60%	-26.41%	10.86%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Green Dot shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.8% of Katapult shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Green Dot shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Katapult shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Green Dot and Katapult”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Green Dot	$2.27 billion	0.34	-$98.87 million	($0.51)	-26.24
Katapult	$291.76 million	0.13	$1.37 million	$1.37	5.77

Katapult has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Green Dot. Green Dot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Katapult, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Green Dot and Katapult, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Green Dot	2	2	1	0	1.80
Katapult	1	0	0	0	1.00

Green Dot currently has a consensus price target of $16.12, indicating a potential upside of 20.52%. Given Green Dot’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Green Dot is more favorable than Katapult.

About Green Dot

Green Dot Corporation, a financial technology and registered bank holding company, provides various financial services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer Services, Business to Business Services, and Money Movement Services. The company provides deposit account programs, including consumer and small business checking account products, network-branded reloadable prepaid debit cards and gift cards, and secured credit programs. It offers money processing services, such as cash transfer services that enable consumers to deposit or pick up cash and pay bills with cash at the point-of-sale at any participating retailer; and simply paid disbursement services, which enable wages and authorized funds disbursement to its deposit account programs and accounts issued by any third-party bank or program manager. In addition, the company offers tax processing services comprising tax refund transfers, which provide the processing technology to facilitate receipt of a taxpayers' refund proceeds; small business lending to independent tax preparation providers that seek small advances; and fast cash advance, a loan that enables tax refund recipients. Green Dot Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Katapult

Katapult Holdings, Inc., an e-commerce focused financial technology company, provides e-commerce point-of-sale lease-purchase options for nonprime consumers in the United States. The company's technology platform provides nonprime consumers with a lease purchase option to enable them to obtain durable goods from its network of e-commerce retailers. It also offers Katapult Pay, a one-time use virtual card technology that makes lease purchasing and transactions. The company was formerly known as Cognical Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Katapult Holdings, Inc. in February 2020. The company is headquartered in Plano, Texas.