Comparing X Financial (NYSE:XYF) and Enova International (NYSE:ENVA)

Enova International (NYSE:ENVA) and X Financial (NYSE:XYF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Enova International and X Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enova International	0	0	8	1	3.11
X Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Enova International presently has a consensus price target of $247.83, indicating a potential upside of 6.11%. Given Enova International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Enova International is more favorable than X Financial.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.4% of Enova International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.1% of X Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 8.4% of Enova International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.6% of X Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enova International	10.31%	26.66%	5.55%
X Financial	9.94%	9.14%	5.20%

Risk and Volatility

Enova International has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, X Financial has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enova International	$3.15 billion	1.85	$308.39 million	$13.49	17.31
X Financial	$1.09 billion	0.20	$209.43 million	$1.96	2.84

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

Summary

Enova International beats X Financial on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enova International

Enova International, Inc., a technology and analytics company, provides online financial services in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company provides installment loans; line of credit accounts; CSO programs, including arranging loans with independent third-party lenders and assisting in the preparation of loan applications and loan documents; and bank programs, such as marketing services and loan servicing for near-prime unsecured consumer installment loan. It offers money transfer services. It markets its financing products under the CashNetUSA, NetCredit, OnDeck, Headway Capital, Simplic, and Pangea names. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

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.