Analyzing Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC) and Spindle (OTCMKTS:SPDL)

Spindle (OTCMKTS:SPDL) and Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.3% of Freedom shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.6% of Spindle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 70.0% of Freedom shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Spindle and Freedom, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spindle	0	0	0	0	0.00
Freedom	0	2	1	0	2.33

Freedom has a consensus price target of $138.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.77%. Given Spindle’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Spindle is more favorable than Freedom.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Spindle and Freedom”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spindle	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Freedom	$2.17 billion	4.28	$153.33 million	$2.51	60.27

Freedom has higher revenue and earnings than Spindle.

Profitability

This table compares Spindle and Freedom’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spindle	N/A	N/A	N/A
Freedom	7.00%	11.50%	1.35%

Summary

Freedom beats Spindle on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spindle

Spindle, Inc. provides payment-processing services to merchants using its Catalyst Gateway. It also acts as an agent, independent contractor, or referral partner to broker merchants that it secures to other merchant processors for ongoing fees based on processing volume. The company serves small and medium-sized businesses. The company is based in Marco Island, Florida.

About Freedom

Freedom Holding Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides securities brokerage, securities dealing, market making, investment research, investment counseling, and investment banking services. It offers retail brokerage services for exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange traded options and futures contracts, government bonds, and mutual funds; securities trading; underwriting services; margin lending services collateralized by securities and cash in the customer’s account; various investment education and training courses; investment research services; and commercial banking services, including payment cards, digital mortgages, and digital business and digital auto loans, as well as Freedom Box, a package of payment acquiring services. The company also provides capital raising solutions for corporate clients through initial public offerings and follow-on offerings; and debt capital markets solutions that focuses on structuring and distributing private and public debt for various purposes, including buyouts, acquisitions, growth capital financings, and recapitalizations, as well as information processing services. In addition, it facilitates repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements in proprietary trading activities; and covers short positions and settle other securities obligations to accommodate customers’ needs and finance its inventory positions. Further, the company offers proprietary trading and investment services, as well as insurance products; and Tradernet software platform for client margin risk evaluation and middle office security transfer requests. It operates in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, rest of Europe, the United States, Russia, the Middle East, and Caucasus. The company was formerly known as BMB Munai, Inc. and changed its name to Freedom Holding Corp. Freedom Holding Corp. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.