Analyzing MSP Recovery (NASDAQ:LIFW) and StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE)

MSP Recovery (NASDAQ:LIFW) and StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

MSP Recovery has a beta of -2.38, suggesting that its share price is 338% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, StoneCo has a beta of 2.33, suggesting that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for MSP Recovery and StoneCo, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MSP Recovery	0	0	0	0	0.00
StoneCo	1	2	5	1	2.67

StoneCo has a consensus target price of $14.38, suggesting a potential upside of 51.16%. Given StoneCo’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe StoneCo is more favorable than MSP Recovery.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

3.8% of MSP Recovery shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.2% of StoneCo shares are owned by institutional investors. 86.5% of MSP Recovery shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of StoneCo shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MSP Recovery and StoneCo”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MSP Recovery	$10.73 million	1.20	-$56.35 million	($142.50)	-0.01
StoneCo	$12.35 billion	0.24	$318.89 million	$1.28	7.43

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

Profitability

This table compares MSP Recovery and StoneCo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MSP Recovery	-906.67%	-6.25%	-2.39%
StoneCo	16.02%	13.92%	4.09%

Summary

StoneCo beats MSP Recovery on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MSP Recovery

MSP Recovery, Inc., doing business as LifeWallet, operates as a healthcare recovery and data analytics company in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company offers claims recovery services, including services to related parties or third parties to assist entities with pursuit of claims recovery rights. It also provides LifeWallet, a scalable and expandable data ecosystem where tokenized data is stored in a platform with multiple applications, including LifeWallet EHR for hospitals, medical providers, major medical laboratories, and governmental entities that gather and store electronic health records; Chase to Pay, a real-time, or near real-time analytics driven platform that identifies the proper primary payer at the point of care; LifeChain which is in development in order to tokenize healthcare claims and patient records using blockchain technology; LifeWallet 911 which is in development for utilization by emergency service organizations; LifeWallet Legal; LifeWallet Health; and LifeWallet Sports which connected brands with college athletes. MSP Recovery, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team. The company served small-and-medium-sized businesses; and marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, and integrated software vendors. StoneCo Ltd. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in George Town, the Cayman Islands.