Analyzing Soluna (NASDAQ:SLNH) and loanDepot (NYSE:LDI)

loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) and Soluna (NASDAQ:SLNH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares loanDepot and Soluna’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
loanDepot	$974.02 million	0.76	-$110.14 million	($0.63)	-3.62
Soluna	$21.07 million	0.44	-$29.20 million	($29.33)	-0.08

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

Risk & Volatility

loanDepot has a beta of 3.13, meaning that its stock price is 213% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Soluna has a beta of 2.64, meaning that its stock price is 164% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares loanDepot and Soluna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
loanDepot	-11.31%	-20.63%	-2.61%
Soluna	-138.62%	-47.43%	-28.17%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for loanDepot and Soluna, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
loanDepot	1	1	0	0	1.50
Soluna	0	0	0	0	N/A

loanDepot presently has a consensus price target of $2.25, suggesting a potential downside of 1.32%. Given loanDepot’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe loanDepot is more favorable than Soluna.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.4% of loanDepot shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.2% of Soluna shares are owned by institutional investors. 83.0% of loanDepot shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Soluna shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

loanDepot beats Soluna on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About loanDepot

loanDepot, Inc. engages in originating, financing, selling, and servicing residential mortgage loans in the United States. The company offers conventional agency-conforming and prime jumbo, federal assistance residential mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides settlement services, which include captive title and escrow business; real estate services that cover captive real estate referral business; and insurance services, including services to homeowners, as well as other consumer insurance policies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About Soluna

Soluna Holdings, Inc. together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining of cryptocurrency through data centers. The company operates through two segments, Cryptocurrency Mining and Data Center Hosting. It also operates in the blockchain business. In addition, the company develops and builds modular data centers that use for cryptocurrency mining. Further, it provides data center hosting services, including electrical power and network connectivity to cryptocurrency mining customers. The company was formerly known as Mechanical Technology Inc and as changed to Soluna Holdings, Inc. Soluna Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Albany, New York.