Critical Review: Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) and Greystone Housing Impact Investors (NYSE:GHI)

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) and Greystone Housing Impact Investors (NYSE:GHI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sezzle and Greystone Housing Impact Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sezzle	0	4	4	1	2.67
Greystone Housing Impact Investors	1	1	1	0	2.00

Sezzle presently has a consensus target price of $145.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.02%. Greystone Housing Impact Investors has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 88.87%. Given Greystone Housing Impact Investors’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Greystone Housing Impact Investors is more favorable than Sezzle.

Profitability

This table compares Sezzle and Greystone Housing Impact Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sezzle	30.35%	83.48%	37.55%
Greystone Housing Impact Investors	-1.03%	3.72%	0.70%

Risk and Volatility

Sezzle has a beta of 6.71, suggesting that its share price is 571% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Greystone Housing Impact Investors has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sezzle and Greystone Housing Impact Investors”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sezzle	$450.28 million	10.12	$133.13 million	$4.60	29.32
Greystone Housing Impact Investors	$85.39 million	1.39	-$7.61 million	($0.24)	-20.96

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.0% of Greystone Housing Impact Investors shares are held by institutional investors. 43.9% of Sezzle shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Greystone Housing Impact Investors shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Sezzle beats Greystone Housing Impact Investors on 13 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 Greystone Housing Impact Investors

Greystone Housing Impact Investors LP acquires, holds, sells, and deals in a portfolio of mortgage revenue bonds (MRBs) that are issued to provide construction and/or permanent financing for multifamily, student, and senior citizen housing; skilled nursing properties; and commercial properties in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Affordable Multifamily MRB Investments; Seniors and Skilled Nursing MRB Investments; MF Properties; Market-Rate Joint Venture Investments. It also invests in governmental issuer loans. The company was formerly known as America First Multifamily Investors, L.P. and changed its name to Greystone Housing Impact Investors LP in December 2022. Greystone Housing Impact Investors LP was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Omaha, Nebraska.