Critical Contrast: Cannae (NYSE:CNNE) vs. Lesaka Technologies (NASDAQ:LSAK)

Cannae (NYSE:CNNE) and Lesaka Technologies (NASDAQ:LSAK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cannae and Lesaka Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cannae	1	0	2	0	2.33
Lesaka Technologies	0	2	0	1	2.67

Cannae presently has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.26%. Lesaka Technologies has a consensus target price of $7.56, indicating a potential upside of 75.81%. Given Lesaka Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lesaka Technologies is more favorable than Cannae.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.1% of Cannae shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.2% of Lesaka Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.9% of Cannae shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Lesaka Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cannae and Lesaka Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cannae	$408.60 million	1.71	-$513.20 million	($3.02)	-5.35
Lesaka Technologies	$721.55 million	0.51	$2.76 million	$0.04	107.50

Lesaka Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Cannae. Cannae is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lesaka Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Cannae has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lesaka Technologies has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cannae and Lesaka Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cannae	-38.18%	-14.10%	-10.60%
Lesaka Technologies	0.43%	1.65%	0.46%

Summary

Lesaka Technologies beats Cannae on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cannae

Cannae Holdings, Inc. is a principal investment firm. The firm primarily invests in restaurants, technology enabled healthcare services, financial services and more. It takes both minority and majority stakes. Cannae Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Lesaka Technologies

Lesaka Technologies, Inc. operates as a Fintech company that utilizes its proprietary banking and payment technologies to deliver financial services solutions to merchants (B2B) and consumers (B2C) in Southern Africa. It offers cash management solutions, growth capital, card acquiring, bill payment technologies, and value-added services to formal and informal retail merchants, as well as banking, lending, and insurance solutions to consumers across Southern Africa. The company also engages in the sale of POS devices, SIM cards, and other consumables; and license of rights to use certain technology developed by the company, as well as offers related technology services. The company was formerly known as Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Lesaka Technologies, Inc. in May 2022. Lesaka Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.