Contrasting NU (NYSE:NU) & Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY)

NU (NYSE:NU) and Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for NU and Sphere 3D, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NU	0	2	7	0	2.78
Sphere 3D	0	0	0	0	N/A

NU presently has a consensus price target of $8.80, indicating a potential upside of 7.98%. Given NU’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe NU is more favorable than Sphere 3D.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NU	5.26%	16.21%	2.72%
Sphere 3D	-841.11%	-419.04%	-180.42%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

53.7% of NU shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Sphere 3D shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of NU shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Sphere 3D shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NU and Sphere 3D’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NU	$4.91 billion	7.79	-$364.58 million	$0.08	101.88
Sphere 3D	$6.08 million	2.15	-$192.80 million	($13.62)	-0.07

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

Volatility & Risk

NU has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sphere 3D has a beta of 2.35, suggesting that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NU beats Sphere 3D on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NU

Nu Holdings Ltd. provides digital banking platform and digital financial services in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and internationally. It offers Nu credit and debit cards; Ultraviolet credit and debit cards; and mobile payment solutions for NuAccount customers to make and receive transfers, pay bills, and make everyday purchases through their mobile phones. The company provides savings solutions, such as Nu Personal Accounts, a digital account solution that supports all personal finance activities, from daily purchases and money transfers to savings; and Nu business accounts designed specifically for entrepreneur customers and their businesses. In addition, it offers NuCrypto, a solution for buying and selling cryptocurrencies through the Nu app; NuInvest, an investment product that provides equity, fixed-income, options, and ETF products, as well as multimarket funds with curated asset allocations based on the customer's risk profile and financial position; personal unsecured loans; in-app buy now pay later' solution for Nu card customers to pay credit and debit purchases, and banking payment slips over time in up to twelve installments; and NuInsurance protecting solutions to help its customers secure life insurance and funeral benefits. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

About Sphere 3D

Sphere 3D Corp. focuses on operating as a carbon neutral bitcoin mining company. The company also provides data management and desktop and application virtualization solutions through hybrid cloud, cloud, and on-premises implementations directly and through its reseller network and professional services organization. Its products portfolio includes HVE-STACK high density server, which provides computer and storage appliance for the data centers; HVE-VELOCITY, a high availability dual enclosure storage area network that offers reliability and integrity for optimal data storage, protection, and recovery; HVE 3DGFX, a virtual desktop infrastructure solution; HVE STAGE, a server virtualization platform; and HVE VAULT, an appliance designed to handle requirements for backup and replication storage. In addition, the company offers on-site service and installation, and self-service and support services. Sphere 3D Corp. is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.