Reviewing Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) & MoneyLion (NYSE:ML)

MoneyLion (NYSE:ML) and Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares MoneyLion and Cipher Mining”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MoneyLion	$545.91 million	1.77	-$45.24 million	$0.75	113.73
Cipher Mining	$151.27 million	5.93	-$25.78 million	($0.12)	-20.33

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

Profitability

This table compares MoneyLion and Cipher Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MoneyLion	0.64%	1.18%	0.61%
Cipher Mining	-33.39%	-8.29%	-7.29%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.4% of MoneyLion shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.9% of MoneyLion shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

MoneyLion has a beta of 2.94, meaning that its stock price is 194% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cipher Mining has a beta of 2.65, meaning that its stock price is 165% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for MoneyLion and Cipher Mining, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MoneyLion	0	3	3	2	2.88
Cipher Mining	0	1	10	2	3.08

MoneyLion currently has a consensus target price of $92.83, suggesting a potential upside of 8.83%. Cipher Mining has a consensus target price of $8.13, suggesting a potential upside of 232.99%. Given Cipher Mining’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cipher Mining is more favorable than MoneyLion.

Summary

MoneyLion beats Cipher Mining on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MoneyLion

MoneyLion Inc., a financial technology company, provides personalized products and financial content for American consumers. The company's platform offers access to banking, borrowing, and investing solutions for customers. Its principal products include RoarMoney, an insured digital demand deposit account; Instacash, a cash advance product that gives customers early access to their recurring income deposits; Credit Builder Plus membership program; MoneyLion Investing, an online investment account that offers access to separately managed accounts invested based on model exchange-traded fund portfolios; Roundups, which provides features designed to encourage customers to establish good saving and investing habits; and MoneyLion Crypto, an online cryptocurrency account. It also provides marketplace solutions, such as valuable distribution, acquisition, growth, and monetization channels; and creative media and brand content services. MoneyLion Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Cipher Mining

Cipher Mining Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and operation of industrial scale bitcoin mining data centers in the United States. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Cipher Mining Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bitfury Holding B.V.