Financial Survey: Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) vs. Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL)

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Circle Internet Group and Upstart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Circle Internet Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Upstart	3.33%	3.68%	1.02%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Circle Internet Group and Upstart, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Circle Internet Group	3	10	8	1	2.32
Upstart	1	7	6	0	2.36

Circle Internet Group currently has a consensus target price of $151.53, suggesting a potential upside of 76.97%. Upstart has a consensus target price of $64.58, suggesting a potential upside of 73.50%. Given Circle Internet Group’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Circle Internet Group is more favorable than Upstart.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Circle Internet Group and Upstart”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Circle Internet Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Upstart	$959.04 million	3.78	-$128.58 million	$0.22	169.20

Circle Internet Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Upstart.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

63.0% of Upstart shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.7% of Upstart shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Upstart beats Circle Internet Group on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Circle Internet Group

Founded in 2013, Circle’s mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. We intend to connect the world more deeply by building a new global economic system on the foundation of the internet, and to facilitate the creation of a world where everyone, everywhere can share value as easily as we can today share information, content, and communications. Since inception, we have relentlessly pursued our mission and vision, building fundamental technology for the internet financial system. We have forged paths toward mainstream acceptance through persistent and active engagement with policymakers and regulators globally, and have seen institutional and consumer knowledge and acceptance of internet-native financial assets approach critical mass. Large and influential players in the incumbent financial services system are increasingly embracing digital assets broadly and stablecoins specifically. Circle’s innovative products reach tens of millions of end-users, power thousands of businesses, and, as of March 31, 2025, USDC has been used for more than $25 trillion in onchain transactions. While we have made strong progress in our pursuit of our mission and vision over the past decade, we believe the internet financial system is in its infancy with decades of growth and innovation ahead. Our principal executive office is located in New York, NY.

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.