Critical Contrast: Surna (OTCMKTS:SRNA) vs. Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ)

Surna (OTCMKTS:SRNA) and Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.8% of Surna shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Marqeta shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Surna shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of Marqeta shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Surna and Marqeta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surna	N/A	N/A	N/A
Marqeta	1.53%	1.36%	0.71%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Surna and Marqeta”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surna	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.01)	-395.09
Marqeta	$624.88 million	2.83	-$13.93 million	$0.11	154.36

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Surna and Marqeta, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surna	0	0	0	0	0.00
Marqeta	2	7	1	1	2.09

Marqeta has a consensus target price of $19.75, indicating a potential upside of 16.31%. Given Marqeta’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marqeta is more favorable than Surna.

Summary

Marqeta beats Surna on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surna

Surna Inc. designs, engineers, and sells environmental control and other technologies for controlled environment agriculture to state- and provincial-regulated cannabis cultivators in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Its products and services include liquid-based process cooling systems and other climate control systems; air handling equipment and systems; a full-service engineering package for designing and engineering commercial scale thermodynamic systems for cannabis cultivation facilities; and automation and control devices, systems, and technologies used for environmental, lighting, and climate control. The company also offers mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services; develops and sells a four-pipe environmental control system with Surna branded fan coil units and custom air handlers; and develops destratification fans, as well as provides facility retrofit services. Surna Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

About Marqeta

Marqeta, Inc. operates a cloud-based open application programming interface platform that delivers card issuing and transaction processing services. It offers its solutions in various verticals, including financial services, on-demand services, expense management, and e-commerce enablement, as well as buy now, pay later. Marqeta, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.