Comparing Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) & Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI)

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI) and Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz and Upbound Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz	0	3	1	0	2.25
Upbound Group	0	3	1	0	2.25

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz currently has a consensus target price of $107.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.17%. Upbound Group has a consensus target price of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.40%. Given Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz is more favorable than Upbound Group.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.2% of Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.3% of Upbound Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Upbound Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz and Upbound Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz	24.00%	40.69%	9.54%
Upbound Group	2.36%	33.81%	7.79%

Volatility & Risk

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upbound Group has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz and Upbound Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz	$7.70 billion	2.21	$2.04 billion	$10.98	8.15
Upbound Group	$4.70 billion	0.31	$73.24 million	$1.90	12.99

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz has higher revenue and earnings than Upbound Group. Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Upbound Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz pays an annual dividend of $8.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.6%. Upbound Group pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz pays out 78.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Upbound Group pays out 82.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Upbound Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz beats Upbound Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz

Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz, together with its subsidiaries, provides payments, marketplace, and fintech solutions for consumers and merchants in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It operates through three segments: Payments Platform, Marketplace Platform, and Fintech Platform. The Payments Platform segment facilities transactions between customers and merchants. This segment offers shopping transactions, regular household bills, and peer to peer payments for consumers; accepts payment online and in store, issue and settle invoices, pay suppliers and monitor merchant turnover. It also provides proprietary data facilities informed decision making across multiple areas of business. Its Marketplace Platform segment connects online, and offline merchants and consumers enabling merchants to enhance its sales through an omni channel strategy and enable consumers to buy products and services from various merchants. This segment also operates marketplace through m-commerce, a mobile solution for shopping in person which consumers can use e-commerce to shop anywhere, anytime with free delivery; Kaspi Travel allows consumers to book domestic and international flights and package holidays, domestic rail tickets. It also enhances merchants sales by connecting payments and fintech products, Kapsi advertising, and other delivery services. The Fintech Platform segment provides consumers with BNPL, finance, and savings products and merchants with merchant finance services through super apps and Kapsi.kz Super app. It also involved in the banking; distressed asset management; real estate business; payment processing; online travel; and storage and processing of information services. The company was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Almaty, the Republic of Kazakhstan.

About Upbound Group

Upbound Group, Inc. leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Rent-A-Center, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. The company's brands, such as Rent-A-Center and Acima that facilitate consumer transactions across a range of store-based and virtual channels. It offers furniture comprising mattresses, tires, consumer electronics, appliances, tools, handbags, computers, smartphones, and accessories. It also provides merchandise on an installment sales basis; and the lease-to-own transaction to consumers who do not qualify for traditional financing, the lease to-own transaction through staffed or unstaffed kiosks located in third-party retailer's locations, and other virtual options. It operates retail installment sales stores under the Get It Now and Home Choice names; lease-to-own and franchised lease-to-own stores under the Rent-A-Centre, ColorTyme, and RimTyme names; and company-owned stores and e-commerce platform through rentacenter.com. The company was formerly known as Rent-A-Center, Inc. and changed its name to Upbound Group, Inc. in February 2023. Upbound Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is based in Plano, Texas.