PROG (NYSE:PRG) & Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Critical Survey

PROG (NYSE:PRG) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

PROG has a beta of 1.79, suggesting that its stock price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upstart has a beta of 2.29, suggesting that its stock price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.9% of PROG shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.0% of Upstart shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of PROG shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.3% of Upstart shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for PROG and Upstart, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PROG	0	3	6	1	2.80
Upstart	1	7	8	0	2.44

PROG presently has a consensus target price of $49.44, indicating a potential upside of 27.25%. Upstart has a consensus target price of $44.40, indicating a potential upside of 46.53%. Given Upstart’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Upstart is more favorable than PROG.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PROG and Upstart”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PROG	$2.41 billion	0.64	$146.79 million	$3.62	10.73
Upstart	$1.04 billion	2.82	$53.60 million	$0.49	61.84

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

Profitability

This table compares PROG and Upstart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PROG	5.57%	21.88%	9.15%
Upstart	4.84%	7.13%	1.82%

Summary

PROG beats Upstart on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PROG

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) is a financial technology holding company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with three business segments: Progressive Leasing, which offers lease-to-own transactions primarily to credit-challenged consumers through e-commerce and point-of-sale retail partners, via online, mobile, and in-store solutions; Vive Financial, which provides consumers who may not qualify for traditional prime lending with a variety of second-look, revolving credit products through private label and branded credit cards; and Four Technologies, which provides consumers of all credit backgrounds Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options through four interest-free installments via its platform, Four.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions. Upstart Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.