Contrasting loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) & Argo Blockchain (NASDAQ:ARBK)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.4% of loanDepot shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.4% of Argo Blockchain shares are held by institutional investors. 83.0% of loanDepot shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for loanDepot and Argo Blockchain, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
loanDepot	1	2	0	0	1.67
Argo Blockchain	0	2	0	0	2.00

loanDepot presently has a consensus price target of $2.60, suggesting a potential upside of 9.70%. Argo Blockchain has a consensus price target of $1.45, suggesting a potential upside of 27.19%. Given Argo Blockchain’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Argo Blockchain is more favorable than loanDepot.

Risk and Volatility

loanDepot has a beta of 3.46, indicating that its share price is 246% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Argo Blockchain has a beta of 1.88, indicating that its share price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
loanDepot	-8.95%	-14.66%	-1.49%
Argo Blockchain	-93.70%	-4,172.69%	-50.32%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares loanDepot and Argo Blockchain”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
loanDepot	$747.53 million	1.03	-$110.14 million	($0.52)	-4.56
Argo Blockchain	$50.56 million	1.43	-$35.03 million	($0.81)	-1.41

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

Summary

loanDepot beats Argo Blockchain on 8 of the 13 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 Argo Blockchain

Argo Blockchain plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mining business worldwide. It engages in mining purpose-built computers for complex cryptographic algorithms. The company was formerly known as GoSun Blockchain Limited and changed its name to Argo Blockchain plc in December 2017. Argo Blockchain plc was incorporated in 2017 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.