Mentor Capital (OTCMKTS:MNTR) vs. American Express (NYSE:AXP) Head to Head Contrast

Mentor Capital (OTCMKTS:MNTR) and American Express (NYSE:AXP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Mentor Capital and American Express’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mentor Capital	-261.84%	-23.05%	-18.62%
American Express	15.13%	33.95%	3.73%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mentor Capital and American Express”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mentor Capital	$170,000.00	5.52	-$570,000.00	($0.03)	-1.44
American Express	$72.23 billion	2.95	$10.83 billion	$16.03	19.51

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than Mentor Capital. Mentor Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Express, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Mentor Capital and American Express, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mentor Capital	0	0	0	0	0.00
American Express	1	13	9	1	2.42

American Express has a consensus price target of $359.05, indicating a potential upside of 14.83%. Given American Express’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Express is more favorable than Mentor Capital.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. 23.7% of Mentor Capital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Express shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Mentor Capital has a beta of -0.77, indicating that its share price is 177% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Express has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

American Express beats Mentor Capital on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mentor Capital

Mentor Capital, Inc. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisitions and emerging growth investments. The firm provides passive equity funding and liquidity to smaller companies and owners in the medical, marijuana and social use cannabis companies. It invests in shelf IPO’s and public and private companies and seeks to provide public market access to owners of small private companies. The firm specializes in pre-IPO investments in Cannabis companies. It seeks to invest in energy sector of oil and gas, coal, uranium. In case of shelf IPO’s, the firm prefers to invest in companies with sales greater than $40 million. It prefers to take significant position in its portfolio companies. The firm invests only in companies that have earnings. Mentor Capital, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is based in Plano, Texas.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. The company’s products and services include credit card, charge card, banking, and other payment and financing products; network services; expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services. It also provides merchant acquisition and processing, servicing and settlement, point-of-sale marketing, and information products and services for merchants; and fraud prevention services, as well as the design and operation of customer loyalty programs. In addition, the company operates lounges at airports under Centurion Lounge brand name. It sells its products and services to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations through mobile and online applications, affiliate marketing, customer referral programs, third-party service providers and business partners, direct mail, telephone, in-house sales teams, and direct response advertising. American Express Company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York.