Reviewing Lufax (NYSE:LU) and Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD)

Lufax (NYSE:LU) and Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Lufax and Upbound Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lufax	2	1	1	0	1.75
Upbound Group	1	2	2	0	2.20

Lufax currently has a consensus price target of $1.70, suggesting a potential upside of 38.78%. Upbound Group has a consensus price target of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 67.49%. Given Upbound Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Upbound Group is more favorable than Lufax.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lufax and Upbound Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lufax	$3.77 billion	0.28	-$291.79 million	($0.61)	-2.01
Upbound Group	$4.70 billion	0.23	$73.24 million	$1.54	11.89

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

Profitability

This table compares Lufax and Upbound Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lufax	N/A	N/A	N/A
Upbound Group	1.90%	34.53%	7.69%

Volatility & Risk

Lufax has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upbound Group has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.1% of Lufax shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.3% of Upbound Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Upbound Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Upbound Group beats Lufax on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lufax

Lufax Holding Ltd operates as a financial service empowering institution for small and micro businesses in China. The company offers loan products, including general unsecured loans and secured loans, as well as consumer finance loans. It also provides wealth management products, such as asset management plans, mutual fund products, private investment fund products, and trust products. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

About Upbound Group

Upbound Group, Inc. leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Rent-A-Center, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. The company's brands, such as Rent-A-Center and Acima that facilitate consumer transactions across a range of store-based and virtual channels. It offers furniture comprising mattresses, tires, consumer electronics, appliances, tools, handbags, computers, smartphones, and accessories. It also provides merchandise on an installment sales basis; and the lease-to-own transaction to consumers who do not qualify for traditional financing, the lease to-own transaction through staffed or unstaffed kiosks located in third-party retailer's locations, and other virtual options. It operates retail installment sales stores under the Get It Now and Home Choice names; lease-to-own and franchised lease-to-own stores under the Rent-A-Centre, ColorTyme, and RimTyme names; and company-owned stores and e-commerce platform through rentacenter.com. The company was formerly known as Rent-A-Center, Inc. and changed its name to Upbound Group, Inc. in February 2023. Upbound Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is based in Plano, Texas.