Reviewing Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) & Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)

Atlanticus (NASDAQ:ATLC) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Atlanticus and Upstart, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlanticus	0	2	5	1	2.88
Upstart	2	8	8	0	2.33

Atlanticus presently has a consensus price target of $129.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.32%. Upstart has a consensus price target of $34.44, indicating a potential upside of 47.29%. Given Upstart’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Upstart is more favorable than Atlanticus.

Volatility & Risk

Atlanticus has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upstart has a beta of 2.48, meaning that its stock price is 148% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Atlanticus and Upstart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlanticus	5.80%	25.17%	2.15%
Upstart	4.86%	9.73%	2.49%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlanticus	$1.97 billion	0.77	$122.20 million	$7.69	12.97
Upstart	$1.04 billion	2.18	$53.60 million	$0.49	47.71

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

14.2% of Atlanticus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.0% of Upstart shares are held by institutional investors. 51.0% of Atlanticus shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.3% of Upstart shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Atlanticus beats Upstart on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions. Upstart Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.