Head to Head Comparison: Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) & 9F (NASDAQ:JFU)

9F (NASDAQ:JFU) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for 9F and Burford Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
9F	0	0	0	0	N/A
Burford Capital	0	0	3	0	3.00

Burford Capital has a consensus price target of $20.17, indicating a potential upside of 52.20%. Given Burford Capital’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Burford Capital is more favorable than 9F.

Volatility and Risk

9F has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares 9F and Burford Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
9F	N/A	N/A	N/A
Burford Capital	42.81%	10.61%	5.70%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares 9F and Burford Capital’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
9F	$412.45 million	0.05	-$19.75 million	N/A	N/A
Burford Capital	$563.24 million	5.15	$610.52 million	$1.43	9.26

Burford Capital has higher revenue and earnings than 9F.

Summary

Burford Capital beats 9F on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About 9F

9F Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates internet securities service platform in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through three segments: Technology Empowerment Services, E-commerce business, and Wealth Management. Its products include digital financial accounts that offer online lending, wealth management, and payment facilitation services; revolving and non-revolving loan products to borrowers, as well as traffic referral services to financial institution partners; and a suite of online wealth management products, such as fixed income products, stocks, insurance, bank wealth management products, and mutual funds to investors in various platforms, including Wukong Licai, 9F Wallet, and 9F Puhui. The company also provides payment facilitation and other products and services that help users to pay credit card bills and household bills comprising utility bills; and other value-added services consisting of credit history search, debt consolidation, and user referral services. In addition, it offers technology empowerment services to banking, automobile, securities investment, and insurance industries; and engages in E-commerce business, which offers various categories of merchandise, including 3C products, beauty and skin care products, food, household appliances, and liquor and beverages. It provides its services to borrowers, investors, and financial institutions partners. The company was formerly known as JIUFU Financial Technology Service Limited and changed its name to 9F Inc. in June 2014. 9F Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital Limited provides legal finance products and services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Capital Provision, and Asset Management and Other Provision. The Capital Provision segment provides capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters directly and through investment in private funds; legal risk management services; lower risk legal finance business focusing on pre-settlement litigation matters with lower risk and lower expected returns; post-settlement finance; and complex strategies in which it acts as a principal and acquires assets that are mispriced. The Asset Management and Other Services segment provides services to the legal industry, including litigation insurance. Burford Capital Limited was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey.