Financial Survey: MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) vs. Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST)

MARA (NASDAQ:MARA) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MARA and Upstart”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MARA	$656.38 million	7.20	$261.17 million	$1.36	10.24
Upstart	$628.83 million	9.94	-$128.58 million	($1.46)	-45.66

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

Volatility and Risk

MARA has a beta of 5.76, indicating that its share price is 476% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upstart has a beta of 2.25, indicating that its share price is 125% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares MARA and Upstart’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%
Upstart	-20.20%	-25.87%	-7.95%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

44.5% of MARA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.0% of Upstart shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of MARA shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.1% of Upstart shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for MARA and Upstart, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MARA	0	6	4	0	2.40
Upstart	2	7	5	0	2.21

MARA presently has a consensus target price of $25.67, suggesting a potential upside of 84.39%. Upstart has a consensus target price of $73.38, suggesting a potential upside of 10.07%. Given MARA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe MARA is more favorable than Upstart.

Summary

MARA beats Upstart on 10 of the 14 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 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.