Critical Comparison: Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) versus Cango (NYSE:CANG)

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Cango (NYSE:CANG) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Lyft and Cango, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lyft	3	21	13	0	2.27
Cango	1	1	1	1	2.50

Lyft currently has a consensus target price of $19.40, suggesting a potential upside of 35.95%. Cango has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1,416.68%. Given Cango’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cango is more favorable than Lyft.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.1% of Lyft shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.2% of Cango shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lyft shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.1% of Cango shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lyft and Cango’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lyft	43.82%	-2.09%	-0.54%
Cango	-125.53%	-105.01%	-51.46%

Volatility & Risk

Lyft has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cango has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lyft and Cango”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lyft	$6.32 billion	0.86	$2.84 billion	$6.85	2.08
Cango	$688.08 million	0.05	-$621.95 million	($3.56)	-0.06

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

Summary

Lyft beats Cango on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Cango

Cango Inc. operates an automotive transaction service platform that connects dealers, original equipment manufacturers, financial institutions, car buyers, insurance brokers, and companies in the People's Republic of China. The company offers automobile trading solutions comprising car sourcing, transaction facilitation, logistics, and warehousing support for dealers through Cango Haoche app that offers new car transaction services, and Cango U-Car app that offers used-car transaction services. It also provides automotive financing facilitation services that include facilitating financing transactions from financial institutions to car buyers, which comprises credit origination, credit assessment, credit servicing, and delinquent asset management services; facilitating financing transactions of car purchases for car buyers; and after-market services to car buyers, which includes facilitating the sale of insurance policies from insurance brokers or companies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.