Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) vs. CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) Head-To-Head Survey

CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CleanSpark and Burford Capital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CleanSpark	$467.49 million	4.47	-$145.78 million	$0.11	67.64
Burford Capital	$341.23 million	8.88	$610.52 million	$0.65	21.24

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

43.1% of CleanSpark shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of CleanSpark shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Burford Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CleanSpark and Burford Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CleanSpark	16.07%	-2.61%	-2.24%
Burford Capital	34.81%	8.07%	4.28%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for CleanSpark and Burford Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CleanSpark	0	0	7	0	3.00
Burford Capital	0	0	3	0	3.00

CleanSpark presently has a consensus target price of $21.57, indicating a potential upside of 189.94%. Burford Capital has a consensus target price of $19.50, indicating a potential upside of 41.26%. Given CleanSpark’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CleanSpark is more favorable than Burford Capital.

Risk and Volatility

CleanSpark has a beta of 4.2, suggesting that its share price is 320% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CleanSpark beats Burford Capital on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CleanSpark

CleanSpark, Inc. operates as a bitcoin miner in the Americas. It owns and operates data centers that primarily run on low-carbon power. Its infrastructure supports Bitcoin, a digital commodity and a tool for financial independence and inclusion. The company was formerly known as Stratean Inc. and changed its name to CleanSpark, Inc. in November 2016. CleanSpark, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.

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.