PROG (NYSE:PRG) vs. Vroom (NASDAQ:VRM) Head-To-Head Contrast

Vroom (NASDAQ:VRM) and PROG (NYSE:PRG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

25.8% of Vroom shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of PROG shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Vroom shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of PROG shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vroom and PROG’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vroom	-32.38%	-47.65%	-5.59%
PROG	5.57%	21.88%	9.15%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vroom and PROG”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vroom	$10.09 million	5.19	-$7.96 million	($11.12)	-0.90
PROG	$2.61 billion	0.59	$146.79 million	$3.62	10.64

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Vroom and PROG, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vroom	1	0	0	0	1.00
PROG	0	3	6	1	2.80

PROG has a consensus price target of $49.44, indicating a potential upside of 28.41%. Given PROG’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PROG is more favorable than Vroom.

Risk and Volatility

Vroom has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PROG has a beta of 1.79, suggesting that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PROG beats Vroom on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vroom

Vroom, Inc. operates as an automotive finance company. The company offers vehicle financing to its customers through third party dealers under the UACC brand. It also provides artificial intelligence powered analytics and digital services to dealers, automotive financial services companies, and others in the automotive industry for automotive retail. The company was formerly known as Auto America, Inc. and changed its name to Vroom, Inc. in July 2015. Vroom, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About PROG

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) is a financial technology holding company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with three business segments: Progressive Leasing, which offers lease-to-own transactions primarily to credit-challenged consumers through e-commerce and point-of-sale retail partners, via online, mobile, and in-store solutions; Vive Financial, which provides consumers who may not qualify for traditional prime lending with a variety of second-look, revolving credit products through private label and branded credit cards; and Four Technologies, which provides consumers of all credit backgrounds Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options through four interest-free installments via its platform, Four.