Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) vs. Lufax (NYSE:LU) Financial Survey

Lufax (NYSE:LU) and Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.1% of Lufax shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Alerus Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Lufax and Alerus Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lufax	2	0	0	0	1.00
Alerus Financial	0	5	1	0	2.17

Alerus Financial has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.33%. Given Alerus Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alerus Financial is more favorable than Lufax.

Profitability

This table compares Lufax and Alerus Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lufax	N/A	N/A	N/A
Alerus Financial	13.45%	11.63%	1.15%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lufax and Alerus Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lufax	$4.82 billion	0.48	$125.31 million	($0.77)	-3.47
Alerus Financial	$336.51 million	1.71	$17.78 million	$2.08	10.89

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

Volatility and Risk

Lufax has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alerus Financial has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Alerus Financial beats Lufax on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lufax

Lufax Holding Ltd operates as a financial service empowering institution for small and micro businesses in China. The company offers loan products, including general unsecured loans and secured loans, as well as consumer finance loans. It also provides wealth management products, such as asset management plans, mutual fund products, private investment fund products, and trust products. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, time and savings deposits, checking accounts, and certificates of deposit; and treasury management products, including electronic receivables management, remote deposit capture, cash vault services, merchant services, and other cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, business term loans, lines of credit, and commercial real estate loans, as well as construction and land development loans; consumer lending products, including residential first mortgage loans; installment loans and lines of credit; and second mortgage loans. In addition, it offers retirement plan administration and investment advisory services, employee stock ownership plan, fiduciary services, payroll, health savings accounts, and other benefit services, as well as individual retirement accounts; and financial planning, investment management, personal and corporate trust, estate administration, and custody services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, online banking, mobile banking/wallet, payment, private banking, payroll accounts, flex spending accounts, administration, and government health insurance program services. It offers banking services in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona; and retirement and benefit plans through offices located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado. The company was formerly known as First National Bank North Dakota and changed its name to Alerus Financial Corporation in 2000. Alerus Financial Corporation was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.