Financial Analysis: CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) versus X Financial (NYSE:XYF)

X Financial (NYSE:XYF – Get Rating) and CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.7% of X Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.5% of CleanSpark shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.6% of X Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of CleanSpark shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

X Financial has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CleanSpark has a beta of 3.92, suggesting that its stock price is 292% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for X Financial and CleanSpark, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
X Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A
CleanSpark	0	0	4	0	3.00

CleanSpark has a consensus target price of $7.50, indicating a potential upside of 206.12%. Given CleanSpark’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CleanSpark is more favorable than X Financial.

Profitability

This table compares X Financial and CleanSpark’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
X Financial	19.76%	16.36%	8.51%
CleanSpark	-82.51%	-18.16%	-16.45%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares X Financial and CleanSpark’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
X Financial	$1.48 billion	0.11	$129.52 million	$1.82	1.60
CleanSpark	$131.52 million	1.45	-$57.33 million	N/A	N/A

X Financial has higher revenue and earnings than CleanSpark.

About X Financial

(Get Rating)

X Financial engages in the development and provision of technology platform for personal finance services. The company was founded by Yue Tang on January 5, 2015 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

About CleanSpark

(Get Rating)

CleanSpark, Inc. is a Bitcoin mining and energy technology company, which engages in the provision of solutions to modern energy challenge and an advanced energy software and control technology. The company was founded by S. Matthew Schultz on October 15, 1987 and is headquartered in Henderson, NV.