Alerus Financial (ALRS) Competitors

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) and Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Is ALRS or CIFR more profitable?

Alerus Financial has a net margin of 6.26% compared to Cipher Mining's net margin of -33.39%. Alerus Financial's return on equity of 7.66% beat Cipher Mining's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alerus Financial	6.26%	7.66%	0.68%
Cipher Mining	-33.39%	-8.29%	-7.29%

Which has more volatility & risk, ALRS or CIFR?

Alerus Financial has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cipher Mining has a beta of 2.41, indicating that its stock price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ALRS or CIFR?

51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Alerus Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Cipher Mining shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor ALRS or CIFR?

In the previous week, Alerus Financial and Alerus Financial both had 3 articles in the media. Cipher Mining's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Alerus Financial's score of 0.76 indicating that Cipher Mining is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alerus Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cipher Mining	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend ALRS or CIFR?

Alerus Financial presently has a consensus target price of $23.40, suggesting a potential upside of 13.43%. Cipher Mining has a consensus target price of $8.14, suggesting a potential upside of 48.25%. Given Cipher Mining's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cipher Mining is more favorable than Alerus Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alerus Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Cipher Mining	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.17

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ALRS or CIFR?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alerus Financial	$336.51M	1.55	$21.07M	$1.02	20.23
Cipher Mining	$126.84M	15.05	-$25.78M	-$0.13	-42.23

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ALRS or CIFR?

Cipher Mining received 50 more outperform votes than Alerus Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 95.31% of users gave Cipher Mining an outperform vote while only 23.91% of users gave Alerus Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alerus Financial	Outperform Votes 11 23.91%	Underperform Votes 35 76.09%
Cipher Mining	Outperform Votes 61 95.31%	Underperform Votes 3 4.69%

Summary

Alerus Financial and Cipher Mining tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.