Contrasting BTCS (NASDAQ:BTCS) and The9 (NASDAQ:NCTY)

BTCS (NASDAQ:BTCS) and The9 (NASDAQ:NCTY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares BTCS and The9’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BTCS	366.80%	-15.42%	-13.77%
The9	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

3.5% of BTCS shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.5% of The9 shares are held by institutional investors. 44.3% of BTCS shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.8% of The9 shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for BTCS and The9, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BTCS	0	0	1	0	3.00
The9	0	0	0	0	0.00

BTCS presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 87.27%. Given BTCS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe BTCS is more favorable than The9.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BTCS and The9″s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BTCS	$1.34 million	33.91	$7.82 million	$0.41	6.51
The9	$176.49 million	0.84	$2.82 million	N/A	N/A

BTCS has higher earnings, but lower revenue than The9.

Risk and Volatility

BTCS has a beta of 2.2, indicating that its share price is 120% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The9 has a beta of 2.09, indicating that its share price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

BTCS beats The9 on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BTCS

BTCS Inc. operates in blockchain technology sector the United States. Its blockchain-infrastructure secures and operates validator nodes on disruptive blockchain networks, as well as validates transactions for crypto holding delegations on dPoS blockchains. The company offers StakeSeeker, a cryptocurrency dashboard and staking-as-a-service platform that allows crypto asset holders to earn rewards by participating in network consensus mechanisms; and Builder+, a Ethereum block builder offered to maximize validator earnings by utilizing algorithms to construct optimized blocks for on-chain validation. In addition, it is involved in the development of ChainQ, an AI-powered blockchain data and analytics platform, which allows users to query real-time and historical on-chain blockchain data. The company was formerly known as Bitcoin Shop, Inc. and changed its name to BTCS Inc. in July 2015. BTCS Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Silver Spring, Maryland.

About The9

The9 Limited operates as a cryptocurrency mining business in China, Eastern Europe, Asia, and North America. The company was formerly known as GameNow.net Limited and changed its name to The9 Limited in February 2004. The9 Limited was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.