Reviewing LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX) & Prairie Operating (OTCMKTS:CRKR)

Prairie Operating (OTCMKTS:CRKR) and LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Prairie Operating and LexinFintech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prairie Operating	0	0	0	0	N/A
LexinFintech	0	1	0	0	2.00

LexinFintech has a consensus target price of $2.12, suggesting a potential downside of 34.77%. Given LexinFintech’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe LexinFintech is more favorable than Prairie Operating.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

49.5% of Prairie Operating shares are held by institutional investors. 24.6% of Prairie Operating shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.8% of LexinFintech shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Prairie Operating and LexinFintech”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prairie Operating	$520,000.00	4,595.96	-$13.42 million	N/A	N/A
LexinFintech	$13.90 billion	0.04	$150.14 million	$0.76	4.28

LexinFintech has higher revenue and earnings than Prairie Operating.

Volatility and Risk

Prairie Operating has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LexinFintech has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Prairie Operating and LexinFintech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prairie Operating	N/A	N/A	-286.57%
LexinFintech	5.80%	8.16%	3.46%

Summary

LexinFintech beats Prairie Operating on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prairie Operating

Prairie Operating Co. engages in developing energy to meet growing demand, while protecting the environment. The company was formerly known as Creek Road Miners, Inc. and changed its name to Prairie Operating Co. in May 2023. Prairie Operating Co. is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About LexinFintech

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides online consumer finance services in the People's Republic of China. The company operates Fenqile.com, an online consumption and consumer finance platform that offers installment purchase and personal installment loans, as well as online direct sales with installment payment terms; and Le Hua Card, a scenario-based lending. It also provides technology-driven platform services for financial institution customers and partners to increase revenues, manage financial risks, enhance operating efficiency and service quality, enhance collections, and reduce overall costs; Maiya application, a location-based services shopping experience with buy-now and pay-later options; and Juzi Licai, an online investment platform. In addition, the company offers technical support and consulting, software development, financing guarantee, and financial technology services. The company was formerly known as Staging Finance Holding Ltd. and changed its name to LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. in March 2017. LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People's Republic of China.