Reviewing Ponce Financial Group (NASDAQ:PDLB) & Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN)

Ponce Financial Group (NASDAQ:PDLB) and Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ponce Financial Group and Canaan, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ponce Financial Group	0	1	1	1	3.00
Canaan	1	2	6	0	2.56

Ponce Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.52%. Canaan has a consensus price target of $2.01, suggesting a potential upside of 360.63%. Given Canaan’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Canaan is more favorable than Ponce Financial Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ponce Financial Group and Canaan”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ponce Financial Group	$194.94 million	2.30	$28.70 million	$1.30	14.25
Canaan	$529.74 million	0.59	-$210.27 million	($0.34)	-1.28

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

Volatility & Risk

Ponce Financial Group has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canaan has a beta of 2.65, suggesting that its share price is 165% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.4% of Ponce Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.1% of Canaan shares are held by institutional investors. 7.2% of Ponce Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Canaan shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Ponce Financial Group and Canaan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ponce Financial Group	15.74%	10.09%	0.98%
Canaan	-41.71%	-55.90%	-34.19%

Summary

Ponce Financial Group beats Canaan on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ponce Financial Group

Ponce Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Ponce Bank that provides various banking products and services. It offers various deposit products, including demand accounts, NOW/IOLA, money market, reciprocal deposits, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit to individuals, business entities, and non-profit organizations, as well as individual retirement accounts. The company also provides real estate-secured loans, which includes one-to-four family investor-owned and owner-occupied residential; multifamily residential; nonresidential property; construction and land; commercial and industrial; and business and consumer loans, as well as lines of credit. In addition, it invests in securities, which consist of U.S. Government and federal agency securities and securities issued by government-sponsored or owned enterprises, as well as corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities, and Federal Home Loan Bank stock. Ponce Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Bronx, New York.

About Canaan

Canaan Inc. engages in the research, design, and sale of integrated circuit (IC) final mining equipment products by integrating IC products for bitcoin mining and related components in the People's Republic of China. It is also involved in the assembly and distribution of mining equipment and spare parts. The company has operations in the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, Thailand, Sweden, and internationally. Canaan Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Singapore.