Critical Survey: LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) vs. MARA (NASDAQ:MARA)

LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) and MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LM Funding America and MARA”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LM Funding America	$16.51 million	0.46	-$15.94 million	($4.91)	-0.30
MARA	$598.75 million	7.06	$261.17 million	$0.79	15.76

MARA has higher revenue and earnings than LM Funding America. LM Funding America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MARA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares LM Funding America and MARA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LM Funding America	-96.23%	-35.84%	-31.86%
MARA	27.48%	-8.40%	-6.92%

Risk & Volatility

LM Funding America has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MARA has a beta of 5.76, meaning that its share price is 476% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for LM Funding America and MARA, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LM Funding America	0	1	0	0	2.00
MARA	0	6	4	0	2.40

MARA has a consensus price target of $25.67, indicating a potential upside of 106.16%. Given MARA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MARA is more favorable than LM Funding America.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.7% of LM Funding America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.5% of MARA shares are held by institutional investors. 36.1% of LM Funding America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of MARA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

MARA beats LM Funding America on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LM Funding America

LM Funding America, Inc. operates as a cryptocurrency mining and specialty finance company. It operates through two segments, Specialty Finance and Mining Operations. The company also engages in Bitcoin mining operations; and provides funding to nonprofit community associations. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Tampa, Florida.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc. operates as a digital asset technology company that mines digital assets with a focus on the bitcoin ecosystem in United States. The company was formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to MARA Holdings, Inc. in August 2024. MARA Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.