Critical Survey: loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) versus Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ)

Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) and loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.4% of loanDepot shares are held by institutional investors. 83.0% of loanDepot shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Core Scientific and loanDepot, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Core Scientific	0	0	2	0	3.00
loanDepot	1	1	0	0	1.50

Core Scientific presently has a consensus price target of $6.75, indicating a potential upside of 125.00%. loanDepot has a consensus price target of $2.25, indicating a potential upside of 3.69%. Given Core Scientific’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Core Scientific is more favorable than loanDepot.

Profitability

This table compares Core Scientific and loanDepot’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Core Scientific	N/A	N/A	N/A
loanDepot	-11.31%	-20.63%	-2.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Core Scientific and loanDepot’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Core Scientific	$502.40 million	1.06	N/A	N/A	N/A
loanDepot	$974.02 million	0.72	-$110.14 million	($0.63)	-3.44

Core Scientific has higher earnings, but lower revenue than loanDepot.

Summary

Core Scientific beats loanDepot on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Core Scientific

Core Scientific, Inc. provides digital asset mining services in North America. It operates through two segments, Mining and Hosting. The company offers blockchain infrastructure, software solutions, and services; and operates data center mining facilities. It also mines digital assets for its own account; and provides hosting services for other large bitcoin miners, which include deployment, monitoring, trouble shooting, optimization, and maintenance of its customers' digital asset mining equipment. In addition, the company provides electrical power, repair, and other infrastructure services to operate, maintain, and earn digital assets; and sells mining equipment to customers. Core Scientific, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dover, Delaware.

About loanDepot

loanDepot, Inc. engages in originating, financing, selling, and servicing residential mortgage loans in the United States. The company offers conventional agency-conforming and prime jumbo, federal assistance residential mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides settlement services, which include captive title and escrow business; real estate services that cover captive real estate referral business; and insurance services, including services to homeowners, as well as other consumer insurance policies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.