Head to Head Analysis: Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY) & PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV)

Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY) and PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sphere 3D and PPDAI Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sphere 3D	$16.61 million	0.27	-$9.47 million	($7.70)	-0.17
PPDAI Group	$1.79 billion	0.80	$326.49 million	$1.47	3.83

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Sphere 3D and PPDAI Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sphere 3D	1	0	1	0	2.00
PPDAI Group	0	1	2	0	2.67

Sphere 3D presently has a consensus target price of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 2,198.85%. PPDAI Group has a consensus target price of $11.55, indicating a potential upside of 104.97%. Given Sphere 3D’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Sphere 3D is more favorable than PPDAI Group.

Profitability

This table compares Sphere 3D and PPDAI Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sphere 3D	-167.47%	-61.18%	-56.57%
PPDAI Group	19.98%	18.33%	11.77%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

17.3% of Sphere 3D shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.2% of PPDAI Group shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Sphere 3D shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 44.0% of PPDAI Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Sphere 3D has a beta of 3.75, suggesting that its stock price is 275% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPDAI Group has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PPDAI Group beats Sphere 3D on 12 of the 14 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 PPDAI Group

FinVolution Group operates in the online consumer finance industry. The company operates a fintech platform that is empowered by borrowers with financial institutions. It operates in China and internationally. The company was formerly known as PPDAI Group Inc. and changed its name to FinVolution Group in November 2019. FinVolution Group was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.