Analyzing Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) & LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.7% of LM Funding America shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.0% of LM Funding America shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Core Scientific shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

LM Funding America has a beta of 2.26, suggesting that its share price is 126% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Core Scientific has a beta of 6.85, suggesting that its share price is 585% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LM Funding America	-83.44%	-30.25%	-23.87%
Core Scientific	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for LM Funding America and Core Scientific, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LM Funding America	1	0	1	0	2.00
Core Scientific	2	5	13	1	2.62

LM Funding America currently has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,430.46%. Core Scientific has a consensus price target of $23.69, indicating a potential upside of 32.82%. Given LM Funding America’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe LM Funding America is more favorable than Core Scientific.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LM Funding America and Core Scientific”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LM Funding America	$11.00 million	0.36	-$7.32 million	($2.30)	-0.14
Core Scientific	$510.67 million	10.83	$46.51 million	$0.15	118.93

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

Summary

Core Scientific beats LM Funding America on 12 of the 15 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 Core Scientific

Core Scientific, Inc. provides digital asset mining services in North America. It operates through two segments, Mining and Hosting. The company offers blockchain infrastructure, software solutions, and services; and operates data center mining facilities. It also mines digital assets for its own account; and provides hosting services for other large bitcoin miners, which include deployment, monitoring, trouble shooting, optimization, and maintenance of its customers' digital asset mining equipment. In addition, the company provides electrical power, repair, and other infrastructure services to operate, maintain, and earn digital assets; and sells mining equipment to customers. Core Scientific, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dover, Delaware.