NerdWallet (NASDAQ:NRDS – Get Free Report) and Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.
Volatility and Risk
NerdWallet has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Digital has a beta of 4.77, indicating that its stock price is 377% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares NerdWallet and Applied Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| NerdWallet | -1.65% | -2.90% | -2.45% |
| Applied Digital | -127.86% | -117.67% | -27.84% |
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| NerdWallet | $599.40 million | 1.71 | -$11.80 million | ($0.14) | -99.85 |
| Applied Digital | $165.57 million | 13.40 | -$149.27 million | ($1.73) | -5.75 |
NerdWallet has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Digital. NerdWallet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Digital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
38.8% of NerdWallet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.7% of Applied Digital shares are held by institutional investors. 45.9% of NerdWallet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of Applied Digital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for NerdWallet and Applied Digital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| NerdWallet | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.80 |
| Applied Digital | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3.00 |
NerdWallet currently has a consensus target price of $17.20, indicating a potential upside of 23.03%. Applied Digital has a consensus target price of $12.11, indicating a potential upside of 21.72%. Given NerdWallet’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe NerdWallet is more favorable than Applied Digital.
Summary
NerdWallet beats Applied Digital on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About NerdWallet
NerdWallet, Inc. operates a digital platform that provides consumer-driven advice about personal finance by connecting individuals and small and mid-sized businesses with financial products providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Its platform offers guidance to consumers through educational content, tools and calculators, and product marketplaces, as well as through NerdWallet app for various financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, insurance, SMB products, personal loans, banking, investing, and student loans. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco, California.
About Applied Digital
Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services. The company was formerly known as Applied Blockchain, Inc. and changed its name to Applied Digital Corporation in November 2022. Applied Digital Corporation is based in Dallas, Texas.
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