Financial Survey: Soluna (NASDAQ:SLNH) versus Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR)

Soluna (NASDAQ:SLNH) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

23.2% of Soluna shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.3% of Soluna shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Burford Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Soluna has a beta of 2.93, indicating that its stock price is 193% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Soluna and Burford Capital”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Soluna	$21.07 million	0.88	-$29.20 million	($17.67)	-0.18
Burford Capital	$1.09 billion	N/A	$610.52 million	$1.77	7.76

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

Profitability

This table compares Soluna and Burford Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Soluna	-77.32%	-43.44%	-24.06%
Burford Capital	45.81%	12.58%	6.75%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Soluna and Burford Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Soluna	0	0	0	0	N/A
Burford Capital	0	0	3	0	3.00

Burford Capital has a consensus target price of $19.50, suggesting a potential upside of 42.02%. Given Burford Capital’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Burford Capital is more favorable than Soluna.

Summary

Burford Capital beats Soluna on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Soluna

Soluna Holdings, Inc. together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining of cryptocurrency through data centers. It operates through two segments, Cryptocurrency Mining and Data Center Hosting. The company also operates in the blockchain business. In addition, the company develops and builds modular data centers that use for cryptocurrency mining. Further, it provides data center hosting services, including electrical power and network connectivity to cryptocurrency mining customers. The company was formerly known as Mechanical Technology Inc and as changed to Soluna Holdings, Inc. Soluna Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Albany, New York.

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital Limited provides legal finance products and services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Capital Provision, and Asset Management and Other Provision. The Capital Provision segment provides capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters directly and through investment in private funds; legal risk management services; lower risk legal finance business focusing on pre-settlement litigation matters with lower risk and lower expected returns; post-settlement finance; and complex strategies in which it acts as a principal and acquires assets that are mispriced. The Asset Management and Other Services segment provides services to the legal industry, including litigation insurance. Burford Capital Limited was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey.