Contrasting Dave (NASDAQ:DAVE) & PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV)

Dave (NASDAQ:DAVE) and PPDAI Group (NYSE:FINV) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

18.0% of Dave shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.1% of PPDAI Group shares are held by institutional investors. 23.6% of Dave shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 44.0% of PPDAI Group 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Dave and PPDAI Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dave	0	3	12	0	2.80
PPDAI Group	1	1	0	0	1.50

Dave currently has a consensus target price of $410.82, indicating a potential upside of 7.91%. PPDAI Group has a consensus target price of $4.10, indicating a potential upside of 21.30%. Given PPDAI Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PPDAI Group is more favorable than Dave.

Profitability

This table compares Dave and PPDAI Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dave	34.58%	77.46%	40.44%
PPDAI Group	14.49%	12.31%	7.95%

Risk & Volatility

Dave has a beta of 3.83, meaning that its share price is 283% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPDAI Group has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dave and PPDAI Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dave	$554.20 million	8.77	$195.87 million	$15.42	24.69
PPDAI Group	$1.94 billion	0.42	$363.56 million	$1.06	3.19

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

Summary

Dave beats PPDAI Group on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dave

Dave, Inc. is a digital banking service. Its products include a budgeting tool to help members manage their upcoming bills to avoid overspending, cash advances through its flagship ExtraCash product to help members avoid punitive overdraft fees, a Side Hustle product, where Dave helps connect members with supplemental work opportunities, and Dave Banking, a modern checking account experience with valuable tools for building long-term financial health. The company was founded by Jason Wilk, Paras Chitrakar, and John Wolanin in October 2015 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

About PPDAI Group

FinVolution Group operates in the online consumer finance industry. The company operates a fintech platform that is empowered by borrowers with financial institutions. It operates in China and internationally. The company was formerly known as PPDAI Group Inc. and changed its name to FinVolution Group in November 2019. FinVolution Group was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.