Contrasting Oportun Financial (NASDAQ:OPRT) and Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT)

Oportun Financial (NASDAQ:OPRT) and Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Oportun Financial has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hut 8 has a beta of 3.99, suggesting that its share price is 299% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Oportun Financial and Hut 8’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oportun Financial	-11.66%	-11.04%	-1.31%
Hut 8	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.7% of Oportun Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.8% of Hut 8 shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.3% of Oportun Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Hut 8 shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Oportun Financial and Hut 8, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oportun Financial	0	3	1	1	2.60
Hut 8	0	0	6	0	3.00

Oportun Financial presently has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 78.57%. Hut 8 has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential downside of 13.18%. Given Oportun Financial’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Oportun Financial is more favorable than Hut 8.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oportun Financial and Hut 8″s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oportun Financial	$296.44 million	0.37	-$179.95 million	($3.10)	-0.99
Hut 8	$115.90 million	15.39	-$186.77 million	N/A	N/A

Oportun Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Hut 8.

Summary

Hut 8 beats Oportun Financial on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oportun Financial

Oportun Financial Corporation provides financial services. The company offers personal loans and credit cards. It serves customers through online and over the phone, as well as through retail and Lending as a Service partner locations. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Carlos, California.

About Hut 8

Hut 8 Corp., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, builds, manages, and operates data centers for digital assets mining, computing, and artificial intelligence in the United States. It operates in four segments: Digital Assets Mining, Managed Services, High Performance Computing Colocation and Cloud, and Other. The company mines Bitcoin. It also offers managed services for energy infrastructure development, such as site design, procurement, and construction management; software automation, process design, personnel hiring, and team training; utilities contracts, hosting operations, and customer management; energy portfolio optimization and strategic initiatives; and finance, accounting, and safety services for digital asset mining site owners, governments, and data center developers. In addition, the company provides colocation, cloud, and connectivity services; hosting services, which include the provision of mining equipment and space, as well as monitors, troubleshoots, repairs, and maintains customer mining equipment; and equipment sales and repair services. Hut 8 Corp. was founded in 2017 and is based in Miami, Florida.