Analyzing Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) & Lion Group (NASDAQ:LGHL)

Lion Group (NASDAQ:LGHL) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Lion Group and Burford Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lion Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Burford Capital	18.42%	2.71%	1.37%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Lion Group and Burford Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lion Group	1	0	0	0	1.00
Burford Capital	2	0	2	0	2.00

Burford Capital has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 106.30%. Given Burford Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Burford Capital is more favorable than Lion Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.2% of Lion Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.7% of Lion Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Burford Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lion Group and Burford Capital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lion Group	$21.09 million	0.00	-$27.45 million	N/A	N/A
Burford Capital	$546.09 million	3.50	$146.48 million	$0.38	22.96

Burford Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Lion Group.

Volatility and Risk

Lion Group has a beta of 2.57, suggesting that its share price is 157% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Burford Capital beats Lion Group on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lion Group

Lion Group Holding Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates a trading platform for corporate clients, individual traders, and retail investors primarily in the People's Republic of China and Southeast Asia. Its trading platform offers a range of products and services comprising contracts for difference trading, over-the-counter stock options trading, futures and securities brokerage, and total return swap trading services through its Lion Brokers Pro app platform. The company's trading platform allows users to trade various futures products on futures exchanges worldwide, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Singapore Exchange, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange, and Eurex Exchange; stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Hong Kong Stock Exchange; and the People's Republic of China stocks listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange that are eligible for the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect programs. It markets its products mainly through search engines, social media, app stores, and third-party websites. Lion Group Holding Ltd. was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital Limited provides legal finance products and services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Capital Provision, and Asset Management and Other Provision. The Capital Provision segment provides capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters directly and through investment in private funds; legal risk management services; lower risk legal finance business focusing on pre-settlement litigation matters with lower risk and lower expected returns; post-settlement finance; and complex strategies in which it acts as a principal and acquires assets that are mispriced. The Asset Management and Other Services segment provides services to the legal industry, including litigation insurance. Burford Capital Limited was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey.