Reviewing LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) and Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL)

LM Funding America (NASDAQ:LMFA) and Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for LM Funding America and Circle Internet Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LM Funding America	1	0	1	0	2.00
Circle Internet Group	3	11	10	1	2.36

LM Funding America presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3,233.33%. Circle Internet Group has a consensus target price of $134.18, suggesting a potential upside of 78.05%. Given LM Funding America’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe LM Funding America is more favorable than Circle Internet Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

22.7% of LM Funding America shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.0% of LM Funding America shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Circle Internet Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares LM Funding America and Circle Internet Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LM Funding America	-368.68%	-102.63%	-67.53%
Circle Internet Group	-2.76%	2.89%	0.12%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LM Funding America and Circle Internet Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LM Funding America	$8.85 million	0.29	-$26.92 million	($2.19)	-0.07
Circle Internet Group	$2.75 billion	6.82	-$69.51 million	($3.20)	-23.55

LM Funding America has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Circle Internet Group. Circle Internet Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LM Funding America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Circle Internet Group beats LM Funding America on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LM Funding America

LM Funding America, Inc. operates as a cryptocurrency mining and specialty finance company. It operates through two segments, Specialty Finance and Mining Operations. The company also engages in Bitcoin mining operations; and provides funding to nonprofit community associations. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Tampa, Florida.

About Circle Internet Group

Founded in 2013, Circle’s mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. We intend to connect the world more deeply by building a new global economic system on the foundation of the internet, and to facilitate the creation of a world where everyone, everywhere can share value as easily as we can today share information, content, and communications. Since inception, we have relentlessly pursued our mission and vision, building fundamental technology for the internet financial system. We have forged paths toward mainstream acceptance through persistent and active engagement with policymakers and regulators globally, and have seen institutional and consumer knowledge and acceptance of internet-native financial assets approach critical mass. Large and influential players in the incumbent financial services system are increasingly embracing digital assets broadly and stablecoins specifically. Circle’s innovative products reach tens of millions of end-users, power thousands of businesses, and, as of March 31, 2025, USDC has been used for more than $25 trillion in onchain transactions. While we have made strong progress in our pursuit of our mission and vision over the past decade, we believe the internet financial system is in its infancy with decades of growth and innovation ahead. Our principal executive office is located in New York, NY.