Reviewing Hut 8 Mining (NASDAQ:HUT) & loanDepot (NYSE:LDI)

Hut 8 Mining (NASDAQ:HUT) and loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.8% of Hut 8 Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.0% of loanDepot shares are owned by institutional investors. 83.9% of loanDepot shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hut 8 Mining and loanDepot’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hut 8 Mining	$77.02 million	5.70	-$186.77 million	($0.55)	-3.60
loanDepot	$1.26 billion	0.44	-$273.02 million	($0.93)	-1.84

Hut 8 Mining has higher earnings, but lower revenue than loanDepot. Hut 8 Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than loanDepot, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Hut 8 Mining and loanDepot’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hut 8 Mining	-184.31%	-24.07%	-20.59%
loanDepot	-17.51%	-28.80%	-3.82%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Hut 8 Mining and loanDepot, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hut 8 Mining	0	1	1	0	2.50
loanDepot	0	6	0	0	2.00

Hut 8 Mining currently has a consensus target price of $3.13, indicating a potential upside of 57.83%. loanDepot has a consensus target price of $1.83, indicating a potential upside of 7.21%. Given Hut 8 Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hut 8 Mining is more favorable than loanDepot.

Volatility and Risk

Hut 8 Mining has a beta of 4.45, indicating that its stock price is 345% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, loanDepot has a beta of 2.53, indicating that its stock price is 153% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hut 8 Mining beats loanDepot on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hut 8 Mining

Hut 8 Mining Corp. operates as a cryptocurrency mining company in North America. It provides computing power to the mining pools in exchange for digital assets. The company serve commercial customers across various industries, including financial, healthcare, government, and those in the growing digital asset, Blockchain, gaming, virtual effects, and Web 3.0 space. Hut 8 Mining Corp. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About loanDepot

loanDepot, Inc. engages in originating, financing, selling, and servicing residential mortgage loans in the United States. It offers conventional agency-conforming and prime jumbo, federal assistance residential mortgage, and home equity loans. The company also provides settlement services, which include captive title and escrow business; real estate services that cover captive real estate referral business; and insurance services, including services to homeowners, as well as other consumer insurance policies. loanDepot, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California.