Critical Contrast: Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) versus BTC Digital (NASDAQ:BTCT)

BTC Digital (NASDAQ:BTCT) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for BTC Digital and Upstart, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BTC Digital	0	0	0	0	N/A
Upstart	6	6	0	0	1.50

Upstart has a consensus price target of $21.65, suggesting a potential downside of 12.77%. Given Upstart’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Upstart is more favorable than BTC Digital.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BTC Digital and Upstart’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BTC Digital	$11.83 million	0.37	-$2.82 million	N/A	N/A
Upstart	$513.56 million	4.25	-$240.13 million	($2.06)	-12.05

BTC Digital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Upstart.

Volatility and Risk

BTC Digital has a beta of -0.08, meaning that its share price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upstart has a beta of 1.97, meaning that its share price is 97% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

7.3% of BTC Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.0% of Upstart shares are held by institutional investors. 6.8% of BTC Digital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.1% of Upstart shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares BTC Digital and Upstart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BTC Digital	N/A	N/A	N/A
Upstart	-32.59%	-27.89%	-9.14%

Summary

Upstart beats BTC Digital on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BTC Digital

BTC Digital Ltd. a crypto asset technology company engages in bitcoin mining business. It is also involved in mining machines resale and rental business. The company was formerly known as Meten Holding Group Ltd. and changed its name to BTC Digital Ltd. in August 2023. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions. Upstart Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.