HIVE Digital Technologies (NASDAQ:HIVE) vs. Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Critical Survey

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) and HIVE Digital Technologies (NASDAQ:HIVE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Synchrony Financial has a beta of 1.63, meaning that its stock price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HIVE Digital Technologies has a beta of 3.39, meaning that its stock price is 239% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Synchrony Financial and HIVE Digital Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Synchrony Financial	$15.98 billion	1.63	$2.24 billion	$7.66	8.72
HIVE Digital Technologies	$124.87 million	3.69	-$51.21 million	($0.14)	-23.64

Synchrony Financial has higher revenue and earnings than HIVE Digital Technologies. HIVE Digital Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Synchrony Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Synchrony Financial and HIVE Digital Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Synchrony Financial	13.98%	16.64%	1.96%
HIVE Digital Technologies	-12.04%	-10.78%	-8.97%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Synchrony Financial and HIVE Digital Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Synchrony Financial	0	6	15	1	2.77
HIVE Digital Technologies	0	0	6	2	3.25

Synchrony Financial presently has a consensus price target of $63.63, suggesting a potential downside of 4.72%. HIVE Digital Technologies has a consensus price target of $7.42, suggesting a potential upside of 124.07%. Given HIVE Digital Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HIVE Digital Technologies is more favorable than Synchrony Financial.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.5% of Synchrony Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of HIVE Digital Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Synchrony Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of HIVE Digital Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Synchrony Financial beats HIVE Digital Technologies on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer financial services company in the United States. It provides credit products, such as credit cards, commercial credit products, and consumer installment loans. The company also offers private label credit cards, dual co-brand and general purpose credit cards, short- and long-term installment loans, and consumer banking products; and deposit products, including certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, and sweep and affinity deposits, as well as accepts deposits through third-party securities brokerage firms. In addition, it provides debt cancellation products to its credit card customers through online, mobile, and direct mail; and healthcare payments and financing solutions under the CareCredit and Walgreens brands; payments and financing solutions in the apparel, specialty retail, outdoor, music, and luxury industries, such as American Eagle, Dick's Sporting Goods, Guitar Center, Kawasaki, Pandora, Polaris, Suzuki, and Sweetwater. The company offers its credit products through programs established with a group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations, and healthcare service providers; and deposit products through various channels, such as digital and print. It serves digital, health and wellness, retail, home, auto, telecommunications, jewelry, pets, and other industries. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About HIVE Digital Technologies

HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. operates as a cryptocurrency mining company in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland. The company engages in the mining and sale of digital currencies, including Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin, and other coins. It also operates data centers; and offers infrastructure solutions. The company was formerly known as HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. and changed its name to HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. in July 2023. HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.