Contrasting American Express (NYSE:AXP) & Netcapital (NASDAQ:NCPL)

Netcapital (NASDAQ:NCPL) and American Express (NYSE:AXP) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Netcapital and American Express, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Netcapital	0	0	0	0	N/A
American Express	3	13	10	0	2.27

American Express has a consensus price target of $230.78, suggesting a potential downside of 13.66%. Given American Express’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe American Express is more favorable than Netcapital.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Netcapital and American Express”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Netcapital	$3.57 million	9.69	-$4.99 million	($0.05)	-34.60
American Express	$63.16 billion	3.04	$8.37 billion	$12.14	22.02

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

30.7% of Netcapital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of Netcapital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Express shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Netcapital has a beta of -0.56, indicating that its share price is 156% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Express has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Netcapital and American Express’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Netcapital	-100.71%	-12.80%	-11.48%
American Express	15.53%	32.94%	3.56%

Summary

American Express beats Netcapital on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Netcapital

Netcapital Inc. operates as a fintech company. It offers Netcapital.com, an SEC-registered funding portal that enables private companies to raise capital online, as well as allows investors to invest from anywhere in the world. The company also provides various services, including automated onboarding process and filing of required regulatory documents; compliance review; custom-built offering page on its portal website; third party transfer agent and custodial services; and rolling closes which provides access to liquidity before final close date of offerings, as well as assistance with annual fillings and direct access to team for ongoing support. In addition, it offers advisor services, which includes incubation of technology start-ups; investors introduction; online marketing; website design and software development; message crafting including pitch decks, offering pages, and ad creation; strategic advice; and technology consulting services. Further, the company provides valuation services, such as business valuation, fairness and solvency opinions, ESOP feasibility and valuation, non-cash charitable contribution, economic analysis of damages, intellectual property appraisals, and compensation studies. Netcapital Inc. is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. The company's products and services include credit card, charge card, banking, and other payment and financing products; network services; expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services. It also provides merchant acquisition and processing, servicing and settlement, point-of-sale marketing, and information products and services for merchants; and fraud prevention services, as well as the design and operation of customer loyalty programs. In addition, the company operates lounges at airports under Centurion Lounge brand name. It sells its products and services to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations through mobile and online applications, affiliate marketing, customer referral programs, third-party service providers and business partners, direct mail, telephone, in-house sales teams, and direct response advertising. American Express Company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York.