Head to Head Comparison: Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) and X Financial (NYSE:XYF)

X Financial (NYSE:XYF) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.1% of X Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.5% of Marathon Digital shares are held by institutional investors. 31.6% of X Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Marathon Digital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

X Financial has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marathon Digital has a beta of 5.34, meaning that its share price is 434% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for X Financial and Marathon Digital, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
X Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00
Marathon Digital	0	4	8	0	2.67

Marathon Digital has a consensus target price of $23.56, suggesting a potential upside of 120.87%. Given Marathon Digital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Marathon Digital is more favorable than X Financial.

Profitability

This table compares X Financial and Marathon Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
X Financial	22.75%	24.56%	14.10%
Marathon Digital	100.82%	-2.59%	-1.53%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares X Financial and Marathon Digital”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
X Financial	$3.44 billion	0.08	$210.97 million	$5.66	1.16
Marathon Digital	$919.17 million	4.39	$541.25 million	$1.80	5.93

Marathon Digital has lower revenue, but higher earnings than X Financial. X Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marathon Digital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Marathon Digital beats X Financial on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About X Financial

X Financial provides personal finance services in the People’s Republic of China. The company offers services as an online marketplace connecting borrowers and investors or institutional funding partners. Its loan products include Xiaoying credit loan, which consists of Xiaoying card loan; and Xiaoying preferred loan to small business owners. The company also offers Xiaoying housing loan, a home equity loan product for property owners; investment products through Xiaoying wealth management platform, such as funds, money market, and insurance products; and loan facilitation services to other platforms. In addition, it engages in the technology development, service, and sale of products; and provision of guarantee and consulting services. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People’s Republic of China.

About Marathon Digital

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.