LM Funding America (NASDAQ:PWCM – Get Free Report) and Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for LM Funding America and Palo Alto Networks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| LM Funding America | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Palo Alto Networks | 0 | 11 | 38 | 1 | 2.80 |
Palo Alto Networks has a consensus price target of $393.02, indicating a potential upside of 14.92%. Given Palo Alto Networks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Palo Alto Networks is more favorable than LM Funding America.
Risk & Volatility
LM Funding America has a beta of 2.33, indicating that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palo Alto Networks has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
22.7% of LM Funding America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.8% of Palo Alto Networks shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of LM Funding America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Palo Alto Networks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares LM Funding America and Palo Alto Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| LM Funding America | -413.92% | -132.69% | -78.02% |
| Palo Alto Networks | 2.67% | 8.50% | 4.35% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares LM Funding America and Palo Alto Networks”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| LM Funding America | $8.85 million | 0.14 | -$26.92 million | ($60.51) | -0.01 |
| Palo Alto Networks | $11.48 billion | 24.37 | $307.00 million | $0.51 | 670.59 |
Palo Alto Networks has higher revenue and earnings than LM Funding America. LM Funding America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Palo Alto Networks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Palo Alto Networks beats LM Funding America on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About LM Funding America
LM Funding America, Inc. operates as a cryptocurrency mining and specialty finance company. It operates through two segments, Specialty Finance and Mining Operations. The company also engages in Bitcoin mining operations; and provides funding to nonprofit community associations. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Tampa, Florida.
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations, and threat intelligence and security consulting; professional services, including architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration, and firewall migration; education services, such as certifications, as well as online and in-classroom training; and support services. It sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
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