Comparing Katapult (NASDAQ:KPLT) and Oportun Financial (NASDAQ:OPRT)

Oportun Financial (NASDAQ:OPRT) and Katapult (NASDAQ:KPLT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Oportun Financial and Katapult, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oportun Financial	0	3	2	0	2.40
Katapult	1	0	0	0	1.00

Oportun Financial presently has a consensus price target of $7.75, suggesting a potential downside of 15.67%. Given Oportun Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Oportun Financial is more favorable than Katapult.

Profitability

This table compares Oportun Financial and Katapult’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oportun Financial	2.05%	13.41%	1.66%
Katapult	3.60%	-26.41%	10.86%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oportun Financial and Katapult”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oportun Financial	$956.70 million	0.44	$25.25 million	$0.40	22.97
Katapult	$301.71 million	0.13	$1.37 million	$1.37	5.72

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

Volatility & Risk

Oportun Financial has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Katapult has a beta of 1.68, indicating that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.7% of Oportun Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.8% of Katapult shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Oportun Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Katapult shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Oportun Financial beats Katapult on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oportun Financial

Oportun Financial Corporation provides financial services. The company offers personal loans and credit cards. It serves customers through online and over the phone, as well as through retail and Lending as a Service partner locations. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Carlos, California.

About Katapult

Katapult Holdings, Inc., an e-commerce focused financial technology company, provides e-commerce point-of-sale lease-purchase options for nonprime consumers in the United States. The company's technology platform provides nonprime consumers with a lease purchase option to enable them to obtain durable goods from its network of e-commerce retailers. It also offers Katapult Pay, a one-time use virtual card technology that makes lease purchasing and transactions. The company was formerly known as Cognical Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Katapult Holdings, Inc. in February 2020. The company is headquartered in Plano, Texas.