Reviewing SHF (NASDAQ:SHFS) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Upstart and SHF, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upstart	2	7	5	0	2.21
SHF	0	0	0	0	0.00

Upstart currently has a consensus target price of $73.38, indicating a potential upside of 46.65%. Given Upstart’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Upstart is more favorable than SHF.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Upstart and SHF”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upstart	$628.83 million	7.46	-$128.58 million	($1.46)	-34.27
SHF	$22.21 million	0.71	-$17.28 million	$0.17	1.65

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

Volatility & Risk

Upstart has a beta of 2.25, suggesting that its share price is 125% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SHF has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upstart	-20.20%	-25.87%	-7.95%
SHF	36.34%	10.24%	5.66%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.0% of Upstart shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.2% of SHF shares are held by institutional investors. 18.1% of Upstart shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of SHF shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Upstart beats SHF on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About SHF

SHF Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides access to banking, lending, and other financial services to financial institutions serving the cannabis industry. The company, through its proprietary platform, offers access to business checking and savings accounts, cash management accounts, savings and investment options, commercial lending, courier services, remote deposit services, automated clearing house payments and origination, and wire payments. Its services allow cannabis related businesses to obtain services from financial institutions that allow them to run their business with enhanced financial insight into their business and access to resources. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Golden, Colorado. SHF Holdings, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Partner Colorado Credit Union.