Critical Contrast: Currenc Group (NASDAQ:CURR) versus Launch One Acquisition (NASDAQ:LPAA)

Launch One Acquisition (NASDAQ:LPAA) and Currenc Group (NASDAQ:CURR) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Launch One Acquisition and Currenc Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Launch One Acquisition	1	0	0	0	1.00
Currenc Group	1	1	1	1	2.50

Currenc Group has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 138.10%. Given Currenc Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Currenc Group is more favorable than Launch One Acquisition.

Volatility & Risk

Launch One Acquisition has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Currenc Group has a beta of 0.09, suggesting that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.0% of Currenc Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Currenc Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Launch One Acquisition and Currenc Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Launch One Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Currenc Group	$46.44 million	1.47	-$39.47 million	($0.88)	-1.67

Launch One Acquisition has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Currenc Group.

Profitability

This table compares Launch One Acquisition and Currenc Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Launch One Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A
Currenc Group	-84.72%	N/A	-34.02%

Summary

Currenc Group beats Launch One Acquisition on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Launch One Acquisition

Launch One Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company. It formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Launch One Acquisition Corp. is based in New York.

About Currenc Group

Currenc Group, Inc. engages in operating a fintech banking platform. It operates through the following segments: Remittance Services, Sales of Airtime, and Other Services. The company is headquartered in Singapore.