Critical Review: Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) vs. Lesaka Technologies (NASDAQ:LSAK)

Lesaka Technologies (NASDAQ:LSAK) and Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Lesaka Technologies and Radian Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lesaka Technologies	1	1	0	0	1.50
Radian Group	0	3	5	0	2.62

Radian Group has a consensus price target of $42.17, suggesting a potential upside of 13.34%. Given Radian Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Radian Group is more favorable than Lesaka Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

24.2% of Lesaka Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.3% of Radian Group shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of Lesaka Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Radian Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Lesaka Technologies has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Radian Group has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lesaka Technologies and Radian Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lesaka Technologies	$328.70 million	1.24	-$87.50 million	($0.35)	-13.54
Radian Group	$1.64 billion	2.99	$582.64 million	$3.89	9.56

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

Profitability

This table compares Lesaka Technologies and Radian Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lesaka Technologies	-4.11%	-15.95%	-4.30%
Radian Group	32.60%	13.65%	6.91%

Summary

Radian Group beats Lesaka Technologies on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lesaka Technologies

Lesaka Technologies, Inc. operates as a Fintech company that utilizes its proprietary banking and payment technologies to deliver financial services solutions to merchants (B2B) and consumers (B2C) in Southern Africa. It offers cash management solutions, growth capital, card acquiring, bill payment technologies, and value-added services to formal and informal retail merchants, as well as banking, lending, and insurance solutions to consumers across Southern Africa. The company also engages in the sale of POS devices, SIM cards, and other consumables; and license of rights to use certain technology developed by the company, as well as offers related technology services. The company was formerly known as Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Lesaka Technologies, Inc. in May 2022. Lesaka Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

About Radian Group

Radian Group Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage and real estate services business in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Homegenius segments. The Mortgage Insurance segment aggregates, manages, and distributes U.S. mortgage credit risk for mortgage lending institutions and mortgage credit investors, through private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans; and other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting. The Homegenius segment offers title services, including a suite of insurance and non-insurance titles; tax and title data, centralized recording, document retrieval, and default curative title services; deed and property reports; closing and settlement services; mortgage underwriting and processing; escrow; appraisal management; and real estate brokerage. This segment also provides real estate valuation products and services; asset management services for managing real estate owned properties, which includes a web-based workflow solution; and a suite of real estate technology products and services to facilitate real estate transactions, such as proprietary platforms as a service solution. It serves mortgage originators, such as mortgage bankers, commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and community banks; and consumers, mortgage lenders, mortgage and real estate investors, government-sponsored enterprises, real estate brokers and agents, and corporations for their employees. The company was formerly known as CMAC Investment Corp. and changed its name to Radian Group Inc. in June 1999. Radian Group Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.