Critical Survey: Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) vs. MDB Capital (NASDAQ:MDBH)

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) and MDB Capital (NASDAQ:MDBH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Synchrony Financial and MDB Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Synchrony Financial	0	6	16	1	2.78
MDB Capital	0	0	0	0	0.00

Synchrony Financial currently has a consensus target price of $65.43, indicating a potential downside of 0.56%. Given Synchrony Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Synchrony Financial is more favorable than MDB Capital.

Volatility and Risk

Synchrony Financial has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MDB Capital has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.5% of Synchrony Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of MDB Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Synchrony Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 55.5% of MDB Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Synchrony Financial and MDB Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Synchrony Financial	$15.98 billion	1.60	$2.24 billion	$7.66	8.59
MDB Capital	$1.30 million	45.72	-$6.97 million	($2.87)	-2.23

Synchrony Financial has higher revenue and earnings than MDB Capital. MDB Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Synchrony Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Synchrony Financial and MDB Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Synchrony Financial	13.98%	16.64%	1.96%
MDB Capital	N/A	-75.31%	-63.59%

Summary

Synchrony Financial beats MDB Capital on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer financial services company in the United States. It provides credit products, such as credit cards, commercial credit products, and consumer installment loans. The company also offers private label credit cards, dual co-brand and general purpose credit cards, short- and long-term installment loans, and consumer banking products; and deposit products, including certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, and sweep and affinity deposits, as well as accepts deposits through third-party securities brokerage firms. In addition, it provides debt cancellation products to its credit card customers through online, mobile, and direct mail; and healthcare payments and financing solutions under the CareCredit and Walgreens brands; payments and financing solutions in the apparel, specialty retail, outdoor, music, and luxury industries, such as American Eagle, Dick's Sporting Goods, Guitar Center, Kawasaki, Pandora, Polaris, Suzuki, and Sweetwater. The company offers its credit products through programs established with a group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations, and healthcare service providers; and deposit products through various channels, such as digital and print. It serves digital, health and wellness, retail, home, auto, telecommunications, jewelry, pets, and other industries. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About MDB Capital

MDB Capital Holdings, LLC, through its subsidiaries, primarily operates as a broker-dealer. The company operates through two segments, Broker Dealer & Intellectual Property Service, and Technology Development. The Broker Dealer & Intellectual Property Service segment operates as a full-service broker dealer that focuses on conducting private and public securities offerings, as well as providing research services for investment banking due diligence. The Technology Development segment engages in the synthetic biology technology development business. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Addison, Texas.