Critical Analysis: Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) & MARA (NASDAQ:MARA)

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

44.5% of MARA shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of MARA shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Burford Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MARA and Burford Capital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MARA	$598.75 million	14.21	$261.17 million	$0.79	33.46
Burford Capital	$1.09 billion	N/A	$610.52 million	$1.16	11.47

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for MARA and Burford Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MARA	1	5	4	0	2.30
Burford Capital	0	0	3	0	3.00

MARA currently has a consensus target price of $23.33, suggesting a potential downside of 11.72%. Burford Capital has a consensus target price of $19.50, suggesting a potential upside of 46.62%. Given Burford Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Burford Capital is more favorable than MARA.

Profitability

This table compares MARA and Burford Capital’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%
Burford Capital	34.81%	8.07%	4.28%

Volatility & Risk

MARA has a beta of 5.63, indicating that its stock price is 463% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Burford Capital beats MARA on 8 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 Burford Capital

Burford Capital Limited provides legal finance products and services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Capital Provision, and Asset Management and Other Provision. The Capital Provision segment provides capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters directly and through investment in private funds; legal risk management services; lower risk legal finance business focusing on pre-settlement litigation matters with lower risk and lower expected returns; post-settlement finance; and complex strategies in which it acts as a principal and acquires assets that are mispriced. The Asset Management and Other Services segment provides services to the legal industry, including litigation insurance. Burford Capital Limited was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey.