Comparing American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Soluna (NASDAQ:SLNH)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.2% of Soluna shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Express shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.3% of Soluna shares are held by company 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.

Profitability

This table compares American Express and Soluna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Express	15.36%	32.65%	3.56%
Soluna	-75.30%	-45.29%	-24.41%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for American Express and Soluna, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Express	3	12	9	0	2.25
Soluna	0	0	0	0	0.00

American Express currently has a consensus price target of $296.38, indicating a potential downside of 6.42%. Given American Express’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe American Express is more favorable than Soluna.

Volatility & Risk

American Express has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Soluna has a beta of 3, suggesting that its share price is 200% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Express	$65.95 billion	3.38	$10.13 billion	$14.01	22.61
Soluna	$39.87 million	0.38	-$29.20 million	($14.56)	-0.13

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

Summary

American Express beats Soluna on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Soluna

Soluna Holdings, Inc. together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining of cryptocurrency through data centers. It operates through two segments, Cryptocurrency Mining and Data Center Hosting. The company also operates in the blockchain business. In addition, the company develops and builds modular data centers that use for cryptocurrency mining. Further, it provides data center hosting services, including electrical power and network connectivity to cryptocurrency mining customers. The company was formerly known as Mechanical Technology Inc and as changed to Soluna Holdings, Inc. Soluna Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Albany, New York.