Reviewing Lendway (NASDAQ:LDWY) and Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO)

Lendway (NASDAQ:LDWY) and Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

6.6% of Lendway shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.3% of Adecoagro shares are held by institutional investors. 13.2% of Lendway shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Adecoagro shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lendway and Adecoagro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lendway	N/A	-21.56%	-4.32%
Adecoagro	11.25%	10.14%	4.38%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lendway and Adecoagro”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lendway	$31.58 million	0.28	$2.41 million	($1.98)	-2.53
Adecoagro	$1.41 billion	0.71	$226.29 million	$1.50	6.43

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

Volatility & Risk

Lendway has a beta of 1.9, meaning that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adecoagro has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Lendway and Adecoagro, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lendway	0	0	0	0	0.00
Adecoagro	0	3	1	0	2.25

Adecoagro has a consensus target price of $12.63, indicating a potential upside of 30.96%. Given Adecoagro’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Adecoagro is more favorable than Lendway.

Summary

Adecoagro beats Lendway on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lendway

Lendway, Inc. operates as a specialty agricultural and finance company focusing on making and managing its agricultural investments in the United States and internationally. It owns and operates FarmlandCredit.com, a non-bank lending business that seeks to purchase existing loans and/or originate and fund new loans domestically. The company was formerly known as Insignia Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Lendway, Inc. in August 2023. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Adecoagro

Adecoagro S.A. operates as an agro-industrial company in South America. The company mainly operates through three segments: Farming; Sugar, Ethanol and Energy; and Land Transformation. It engages in farming crops, rice and other agricultural products, dairy operations, and land transformation activities, as well as sugar, ethanol, and energy production activities. The company is involved in the planting, harvesting, and sale of grains, oilseeds, and fibers, including wheat, corn, soybeans, peanuts, cotton, sunflowers, and others; provision of grain warehousing/conditioning, handling, and drying services to third parties; and purchase and sale of crops produced by third parties. It also plants, harvests, processes, and markets rice; and produces and sells raw milk, UHT, cheese, and powder milk. In addition, the company engages in the cultivating and transforming of sugarcane into ethanol, sugar, and electricity. Further, it is involved in the identification and acquisition of underdeveloped and undermanaged farmland, and the realization of value through the strategic disposition of assets. Adecoagro S.A. was founded in 2002 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.