California First Leasing (OTCMKTS:CFNB) & Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) Head-To-Head Review

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD – Get Rating) and California First Leasing (OTCMKTS:CFNB – Get Rating) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Upbound Group and California First Leasing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upbound Group	0.29%	40.50%	7.88%
California First Leasing	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Upbound Group and California First Leasing, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upbound Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
California First Leasing	0	0	0	0	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Upbound Group and California First Leasing’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upbound Group	$4.25 billion	0.36	$12.36 million	$0.20	137.80
California First Leasing	$51.10 million	3.00	-$12.66 million	N/A	N/A

Upbound Group has higher revenue and earnings than California First Leasing.

Dividends

Upbound Group pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. California First Leasing pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Upbound Group pays out 680.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Risk & Volatility

Upbound Group has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California First Leasing has a beta of 0.34, suggesting that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.1% of Upbound Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.0% of Upbound Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 82.4% of California First Leasing shares are owned 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.

Summary

Upbound Group beats California First Leasing on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Upbound Group

(Get Rating)

Upbound Group, Inc. engages in the provision of furniture, electronics, appliances, computers, and smartphones through flexible rental purchase agreements. It operates through the following segments: Rent-A-Center Business, Preferred Lease, Mexico, and Franchising. The Rent-A-Center Business segment consists of company-owned rent-to-own stores in the United States and Puerto Rico. The Preferred Lease segment offers an on-site rent-to-own option at a third-party retailer’s location. The Mexico segment consists of its company-owned rent-to-own stores in Mexico. The Franchising segment sells rental merchandise to its franchisees. The company was founded by Mark E. Speese on September 16, 1986 and is headquartered in Plano, TX.

About California First Leasing

(Get Rating)

California First Leasing Corp. engages in leasing and financing capital assets to businesses and other commercial or non-profit organizations. The company was founded by Patrick E. Paddon in 1977 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA.