Financial Analysis: Lesaka Technologies (LSAK) & Its Peers

Lesaka Technologies (NASDAQ:LSAK) is one of 341 publicly-traded companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Lesaka Technologies to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lesaka Technologies	0.44%	4.93%	1.39%
Lesaka Technologies Competitors	-409.12%	-40.47%	-6.29%

Risk & Volatility

Lesaka Technologies has a beta of 0.29, indicating that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lesaka Technologies’ peers have a beta of 2.51, indicating that their average share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Lesaka Technologies and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lesaka Technologies	0	2	0	1	2.67
Lesaka Technologies Competitors	1988	6946	11713	446	2.50

Lesaka Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $7.56, suggesting a potential upside of 114.77%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 6.28%. Given Lesaka Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lesaka Technologies is more favorable than its peers.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lesaka Technologies and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lesaka Technologies	$721.55 million	$2.76 million	88.00
Lesaka Technologies Competitors	$6.50 billion	$1.09 billion	10.42

Lesaka Technologies’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Lesaka Technologies. Lesaka Technologies is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.2% of Lesaka Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Lesaka Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Lesaka Technologies beats its peers on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

Lesaka Technologies Company Profile

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.