Reviewing SHF (NASDAQ:SHFS) & LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX)

SHF (NASDAQ:SHFS – Get Rating) and LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SHF and LexinFintech’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SHF	$9.48 million	1.67	-$35.13 million	N/A	N/A
LexinFintech	$1.43 billion	0.31	$118.85 million	$0.65	3.66

LexinFintech has higher revenue and earnings than SHF.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SHF	N/A	6.94%	1.88%
LexinFintech	8.23%	10.32%	3.88%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.0% of SHF shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.0% of LexinFintech shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.7% of SHF shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.8% of LexinFintech shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

SHF has a beta of 0.16, indicating that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LexinFintech has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for SHF and LexinFintech, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SHF	0	0	1	0	3.00
LexinFintech	0	0	3	0	3.00

SHF presently has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 289.56%. LexinFintech has a consensus target price of $2.85, suggesting a potential upside of 19.75%. Given SHF’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe SHF is more favorable than LexinFintech.

Summary

LexinFintech beats SHF on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SHF

(Get Rating)

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 Arvada, Colorado.

About LexinFintech

(Get Rating)

Lexinfintech Holdings Ltd. engages in the business of matching consumers with credit needs to its financial institution partners through its proprietary platform and mobile application. The company was founded by Wen Jie Xiao and Qian Qiao on November 22, 2013 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.