MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) vs. LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) Critical Survey

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) and LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for MARA and LM Funding America, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MARA	0	6	4	0	2.40
LM Funding America	0	1	0	0	2.00

MARA presently has a consensus price target of $25.67, indicating a potential upside of 75.08%. Given MARA’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe MARA is more favorable than LM Funding America.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.5% of MARA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.7% of LM Funding America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of MARA shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.1% of LM Funding America shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

MARA has a beta of 5.76, indicating that its stock price is 476% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LM Funding America has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MARA and LM Funding America”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MARA	$387.51 million	12.84	$261.17 million	$0.79	18.56
LM Funding America	$12.98 million	0.71	-$15.94 million	($4.91)	-0.36

MARA has higher revenue and earnings than LM Funding America. LM Funding America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MARA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares MARA and LM Funding America’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MARA	27.48%	-8.40%	-6.92%
LM Funding America	-96.23%	-35.84%	-31.86%

Summary

MARA beats LM Funding America on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MARA

MARA Holdings, Inc. operates as a digital asset technology company that mines digital assets with a focus on the bitcoin ecosystem in United States. The company was formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to MARA Holdings, Inc. in August 2024. MARA Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About LM Funding America

LM Funding America, Inc. operates as a cryptocurrency mining and specialty finance company. It operates through two segments, Specialty Finance and Mining Operations. The company also engages in Bitcoin mining operations; and provides funding to nonprofit community associations. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Tampa, Florida.