Head to Head Comparison: Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ:SDIG) vs. CURO Group (NYSE:CURO)

Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ:SDIG) and CURO Group (NYSE:CURO) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Stronghold Digital Mining has a beta of 2.7, indicating that its stock price is 170% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CURO Group has a beta of 2.21, indicating that its stock price is 121% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Stronghold Digital Mining and CURO Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stronghold Digital Mining	$74.97 million	0.63	-$71.40 million	($4.72)	-0.65
CURO Group	$418.33 million	0.01	-$266.73 million	($6.49)	-0.01

Stronghold Digital Mining has higher earnings, but lower revenue than CURO Group. Stronghold Digital Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CURO Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Stronghold Digital Mining and CURO Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stronghold Digital Mining	0	0	2	0	3.00
CURO Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Stronghold Digital Mining currently has a consensus target price of $7.83, suggesting a potential upside of 155.99%. Given Stronghold Digital Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Stronghold Digital Mining is more favorable than CURO Group.

Profitability

This table compares Stronghold Digital Mining and CURO Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stronghold Digital Mining	3.58%	27.19%	9.94%
CURO Group	-35.34%	N/A	-8.23%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.3% of Stronghold Digital Mining shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.9% of CURO Group shares are held by institutional investors. 47.6% of Stronghold Digital Mining shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 26.1% of CURO Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Stronghold Digital Mining beats CURO Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stronghold Digital Mining

Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc., a crypto asset mining company, focuses on Bitcoin mining in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy Operations and Cryptocurrency Operations. It also owns and operates coal refuse power generation facilities; and provides environmental remediation and reclamation services. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About CURO Group

CURO Group Holdings Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides consumer finance products in the United States and Canada. The company offers secured and unsecured installment loans, revolving line of credit, and single-pay loans; and credit protection insurance, check cashing, money transfer, foreign currency exchange, and other ancillary financial products and services, as well as reloadable prepaid debit cards and demand deposit accounts. The company also provides loans through online. It operates under the Covington Credit, Heights Finance, Quick Credit, Southern Finance, First Heritage Credit, Cash Money, LendDirect, and Flexiti brands. The company was formerly known as Speedy Group Holdings Corp. and changed its name to CURO Group Holdings Corp. in May 2016. CURO Group Holdings Corp. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.