Reviewing Forge Global (NYSE:FRGE) & Axos Financial (NYSE:AX)

Forge Global (NYSE:FRGE) and Axos Financial (NYSE:AX) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

40.7% of Forge Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of Axos Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Forge Global shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Axos Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Forge Global has a beta of 2.18, meaning that its stock price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Axos Financial has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Forge Global and Axos Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forge Global	$92.88 million	6.71	-$66.33 million	($5.20)	-8.65
Axos Financial	$1.40 billion	3.54	$432.91 million	$8.23	10.64

Axos Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Forge Global. Forge Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Axos Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Forge Global and Axos Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forge Global	-71.87%	-29.06%	-24.63%
Axos Financial	22.53%	16.48%	1.72%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Forge Global and Axos Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forge Global	1	4	0	0	1.80
Axos Financial	0	2	4	1	2.86

Forge Global currently has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.00%. Axos Financial has a consensus price target of $109.40, indicating a potential upside of 24.97%. Given Axos Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Axos Financial is more favorable than Forge Global.

Summary

Axos Financial beats Forge Global on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Forge Global

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. operates a financial services platform in California. The company's platform solutions include trading solutions, a platform that connects investors with private company stockholders and enables them to facilitate private share transactions; and custody solutions, a non-depository trust company that enables clients to securely custody and manage assets through an online portal. It also provides data solutions, such as information and insight to navigate, analyze, and make investment decisions to market participants in the private market. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Axos Financial

Axos Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides consumer and business banking products in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking Business and Securities Business. The company offers deposits products, including consumer and business checking, demand, savings, time deposit, money market, zero balance, and insured cash sweep accounts. It also provides residential single family, multifamily, and commercial mortgage loans; commercial real estate secured loans; commercial and industrial non-real estate, asset-backed, lines of credit, and term loans; automobile loans; fixed rate unsecured loans; and other loans, such as structure settlements, small business administration consumer loans, and securities-backed loans. In addition, the company offers ACH origination, wire transfer, commercial check printing, business bill pay and account transfer; remote deposit capture, mobile deposit, lockbox, merchant, and online payment portal; concierge banking; mobile and text message banking; and payment services, as well as debit and credit cards, and digital wallets. Further, it provides disclosed clearing services; back-office services, such as record keeping, trade reporting, accounting, general back-office support, securities and margin lending, reorganization assistance, and custody of securities; and financing to brokerage customers. The company was formerly known as BofI Holding, Inc. and changed its name to Axos Financial, Inc. in September 2018. Axos Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.