Analyzing Lendingclub (HAPN) & Its Competitors

Lendingclub (NASDAQ:HAPN) is one of 121 public companies in the “Consumer Finance” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Lendingclub to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Lendingclub and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lendingclub	0	1	2	0	2.67
Lendingclub Competitors	896	3374	5264	269	2.50

Lendingclub currently has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.72%. As a group, “Consumer Finance” companies have a potential upside of 10.96%. Given Lendingclub’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Lendingclub is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Lendingclub and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lendingclub	18.67%	12.92%	1.66%
Lendingclub Competitors	9.95%	-32.17%	2.50%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.1% of Lendingclub shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.4% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Lendingclub shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Lendingclub has a beta of 1.91, meaning that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lendingclub’s competitors have a beta of 1.24, meaning that their average stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lendingclub and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lendingclub	$998.85 million	$135.68 million	11.10
Lendingclub Competitors	$64.75 billion	$381.70 million	6.93

Lendingclub’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Lendingclub. Lendingclub is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Lendingclub beats its competitors on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Lendingclub

LendingClub Corporation, operates as a bank holding company for LendingClub Bank, National Association that provides range of financial products and services through a technology-driven platform in the United States. The company provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, small business, and equipment loans, as well as leases equipment; and unsecured personal and auto, patient finance, and education finance loans. It also operates an online lending marketplace platform that connects borrowers and investors. LendingClub Corporation was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.