Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) vs. Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC) Head to Head Contrast

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) 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 profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sezzle	0	4	4	1	2.67
Freedom	0	2	1	0	2.33

Sezzle presently has a consensus target price of $146.50, indicating a potential upside of 19.10%. Freedom has a consensus target price of $159.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.26%. Given Sezzle’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sezzle is more favorable than Freedom.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sezzle	30.35%	83.48%	37.55%
Freedom	6.47%	10.96%	1.24%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sezzle and Freedom”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sezzle	$450.28 million	9.20	$133.13 million	$4.60	26.74
Freedom	$2.19 billion	4.89	$153.33 million	$2.53	66.34

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

Risk & Volatility

Sezzle has a beta of 6.76, suggesting that its stock price is 576% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freedom has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.3% of Freedom shares are held by institutional investors. 49.5% of Sezzle shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 69.8% of Freedom shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Sezzle beats Freedom on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sezzle

Sezzle Inc. operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides payment solution in-store and at online retail stores; and through proprietary payments solution that connects consumers with merchants. It also offers Sezzle Platform that provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time; Pay-in-Four, which allows consumers to pay a fourth of the purchase price up front and then another fourth of the purchase price every two weeks thereafter over a total of six weeks; Pay-in-Full that allows consumers to pay for the full value of their order up-front through the Sezzle Platform without the extension of credit; and Pay-in-Two and other alternative installment options, which allow consumer to pay half of the value of their order up-front and the second half in two weeks. In addition, the company provides Sezzle Virtual Card that allows consumers to access the Sezzle Platform in the form of close-end installment loans and shop with merchants that are not integrated with Sezzle; Sezzle Anywhere, a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store; Sezzle Premium, a paid subscription service that allows its consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants; and Sezzle Up, an opt-in feature of the Sezzle Platform. Further, it offers Long-Term Lending through collaboration with third-party lenders and Product Innovation. Sezzle Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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.