Critical Analysis: Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA) vs. Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND)

Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA) and Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

15.6% of Izea Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of Blend Labs shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of Izea Worldwide shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 40.3% of Blend Labs shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Izea Worldwide and Blend Labs, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Izea Worldwide	2	0	0	0	1.00
Blend Labs	1	2	4	0	2.43

Blend Labs has a consensus target price of $3.32, suggesting a potential upside of 80.65%. Given Blend Labs’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Blend Labs is more favorable than Izea Worldwide.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Izea Worldwide and Blend Labs”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Izea Worldwide	$31.24 million	2.04	$40,000.00	($0.03)	-121.33
Blend Labs	$123.51 million	3.60	-$6.80 million	($0.10)	-18.36

Izea Worldwide has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Blend Labs. Izea Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Blend Labs, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Izea Worldwide has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blend Labs has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Izea Worldwide and Blend Labs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Izea Worldwide	-1.98%	-1.20%	-1.03%
Blend Labs	-3.72%	N/A	-1.63%

Summary

Blend Labs beats Izea Worldwide on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Izea Worldwide

IZEA Worldwide, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, offers software and professional services to connect brands and content creators in North America, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers IZEA Flex, its flagship platform for managing enterprise influencer marketing; and comprehensive expense management service to track and manage off-platform expenses related to influencer marketing campaigns. It also operates The Creator Marketplace on IZEA.com that provides creators tools to present their work to marketers. In addition, the company provides management of content workflow, creator search and targeting, bidding, analytics, and payment processing services. It primarily sells influencer marketing and custom content campaigns through client development team and platforms. The company was formerly known as IZEA, Inc. and changed its name to IZEA Worldwide, Inc. in August 2018. IZEA Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Blend Labs

Blend Labs, Inc. engages in the provision of cloud-based software platform solutions for financial services firms in the United States. It operates in two segments, Blend Platform and Title365. The company's Blend Builder Platform offers a suite of products that powers digital-first consumer journeys for mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and deposit accounts; and offers mortgage products to facilitate the homeownership journey for consumers comprising close, income verification for mortgage, homeowners' insurance, and realty. It also offers verification components to automate confirmation tasks that are needed to underwrite a loan or approve the opening of a new deposit account; decisioning components to reduce the need for human intervention by automatically applying business rules throughout an application workflow configured by a financial services firm; workflow intelligence components to manage data collection and automate tasks throughout the loan origination process; and marketplace components to enable consumers to shop for products and services presented at the precise moment of need during an application for a loan. In addition, the company, through its subsidiary, offers title search procedures for title insurance policies, escrow, and other closing and settlement services, as well as other trustee services; and provides professional and consulting services. It serves banks, credit unions, fintechs, and non-bank mortgage lenders. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.