Contrasting Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) and Expion360 (NASDAQ:XPON)

Spruce Power (NYSE:SPRU) and Expion360 (NASDAQ:XPON) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Spruce Power and Expion360, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spruce Power	1	0	0	0	1.00
Expion360	1	0	0	0	1.00

Volatility & Risk

Spruce Power has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expion360 has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

20.8% of Spruce Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.5% of Expion360 shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.7% of Spruce Power shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Expion360 shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Spruce Power and Expion360″s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spruce Power	$82.11 million	1.07	-$70.49 million	($1.38)	-3.51
Expion360	$5.62 million	1.31	-$13.48 million	($0.68)	-1.12

Expion360 has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Spruce Power. Spruce Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Expion360, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Spruce Power and Expion360’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spruce Power	-23.23%	-18.82%	-2.86%
Expion360	-21.76%	-48.80%	-21.77%

Summary

Expion360 beats Spruce Power on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spruce Power

Spruce Power Holding Corporation owns and operates distributed solar energy assets in the United States. The company provides subscription-based services for homeowners and businesses to own and maintain rooftop solar and battery storage. It offers its subscription-based services to approximately 75,000 customers. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Expion360

Expion360 Inc. designs, assembles, manufactures, and sells lithium iron phosphate batteries and supporting accessories under the VPR 4EVER name for recreational vehicles, marine, golf, industrial, residential, and off-the-grid applications. It provides battery monitors; direct current battery chargers; various models of industrial tie-downs; power generators AURA POWERCAP; terminal blocks; and bus bars. The company also engages in the development of e360 Home Energy Storage systems; e360 SmartTalk mobile application. It serves dealers, wholesalers, private label customers, and original equipment manufacturers in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Yozamp Products Company, LLC and changed its name to Expion360 Inc. in November 2021. Expion360 Inc. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Redmond, Oregon.