Critical Contrast: Mercurity Fintech (NASDAQ:MFH) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Mercurity Fintech (NASDAQ:MFH) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.3% of PayPal shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of Mercurity Fintech shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of PayPal shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 62.8% of Mercurity Fintech shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PayPal and Mercurity Fintech”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PayPal	$33.17 billion	1.24	$5.23 billion	$5.41	8.26
Mercurity Fintech	$1.87 million	152.80	-$4.53 million	N/A	N/A

PayPal has higher revenue and earnings than Mercurity Fintech.

Risk and Volatility

PayPal has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercurity Fintech has a beta of 4.3, suggesting that its stock price is 330% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares PayPal and Mercurity Fintech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PayPal	15.77%	25.42%	6.41%
Mercurity Fintech	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for PayPal and Mercurity Fintech, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PayPal	6	30	8	0	2.05
Mercurity Fintech	1	0	0	0	1.00

PayPal currently has a consensus target price of $58.43, indicating a potential upside of 30.81%. Given PayPal’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe PayPal is more favorable than Mercurity Fintech.

Summary

PayPal beats Mercurity Fintech on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PayPal

PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates a technology platform that enables digital payments on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. It operates a two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers that enables its customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments through online and in person, as well as transfer and withdraw funds using various funding sources, such as bank accounts, PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products comprising its installment products, credit and debit cards, and cryptocurrencies, as well as other stored value products, including gift cards and eligible rewards. The company provides payment solutions under the PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, Zettle, Hyperwallet, Honey, and Paidy names. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Mercurity Fintech

Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. operates as a fintech company powered by blockchain. The company provides digital asset trading infrastructure solutions based on internet and blockchain technologies for cryptocurrency traders; and asset digitalization platform, which offers blockchain-based digitalization solutions for traditional assets, such as fiat currencies, bonds, and precious metals. It also offers cryptocurrency mining services that provides computing power to the mining pool; and digital consultation services, such as digital payment solutions, asset management, and online and traditional brokerage services. The company was formerly known as JMU Limited and changed its name to Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. in April 2020. Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.