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Oportun vs. Enova: Which Fintech Lender is the Better Pick Right Now?

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Key Takeaways

  • OPRT and ENVA serve non-prime borrowers, with OPRT shares up 89.7% YTD vs. ENVA's 15.8%.
  • OPRT guides 2025 EPS of $1.10-$1.30; ENVA revenues are seen rising 17.8% per 2025 consensus.
  • OPRT trades at 1.22X P/TB vs. ENVA's 3.31X; ENVA has $171.9M left in its $300M buyback plan.

Oportun Financial Corporation (OPRT - Free Report) and Enova International Inc. (ENVA - Free Report) are fintech companies that provide credit solutions to underserved consumers. They leverage advanced analytics and digital platforms to offer non-prime borrowers personal loans and financial services, thereby positioning themselves as key players in the alternative lending sector.

Despite the recent turmoil across the markets due to tariff-related apprehension and geopolitical tensions, OPRT and ENVA have remained on investors’ radar. This year, shares of Oportun and Enova have soared 89.7% and 15.8%, respectively.

YTD Price Performance of OPRT & ENVA

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Thus, the key question is: Which fintech lender — OPRT or ENVA — stands out as the better investment amid today’s challenging macroeconomic environment? Let’s find out.

The Case for OPRT

Oportun uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly machine learning (ML), to enhance underwriting by analyzing alternative data, allowing it to score nearly all clients, even those with little or no credit history. This strengthens underwriting standards, lowers default risks, ensures consistent revenue growth and enables OPRT to scale up its operations efficiently with minimal infrastructure costs.
 
Oportun has been driving loan growth through its diverse offerings, including personal loans, secured personal loans and “lending as a service” partnership programs, enabling a higher yield on its loan portfolio and boosting interest income.  Also, the company has been witnessing rising non-interest income through higher subscriptions and servicing fees.

As such, its total revenues witnessed a five-year (ended 2024) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%. Though revenues declined in the first quarter of 2025, sophisticated technology offers a competitive edge to grow its market share rapidly and achieve efficiency alongside solid underwriting.

Revenue Trend

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Oportun’s solid loans receivables at fair value, improving fee income and product diversification efforts will continue to bolster its top-line growth. Though the company’s loan growth is likely to be subdued this year amid inflationary pressure and higher-for-longer rates, the same is likely to improve once the macroeconomic backdrop turns favorable. Also, a strong liquidity sheet position and diversified funding profile will continue to support the company’s financials.

The Case for ENVA

Enova has been leveraging technology to increase lending activities and mitigate costs. Given the company’s first-mover advantage, it has accumulated more than 85 terabytes of accessible consumer behavior data from more than 65 million transactions.

This database enables enhanced underwriting, leading to lower default risks and ensuring consistent revenue growth. ENVA’s revenues witnessed a CAGR of 17.7% over the last five years (2019-2024), with the momentum persisting during the first three months of 2025.

Revenue Trend

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Additionally, Enova leverages proprietary analytics, ML and more than 20 years of lending data to enhance credit decision-making. The company’s scalable, flexible technology platform supports rapid growth with low infrastructure investment. The 2020 OnDeck buyout expanded its small business lending. Enova also drives loan growth through programs like the Credit Services Organization in Texas and bank partnerships in the US and Brazil, allowing it to scale while reducing regulatory risks.

All these initiatives enable ENVA to expand loan originations and generate higher interest income. Moreover, Enova has a money transfer business, Pangea, which aids fee income and benefits from exchange rate spreads. Thus, a diversified revenue mix enables it to earn sustainable revenues.

Further, ENVA’s decent liquidity position will likely help to maintain sustainable share buybacks. As of March 31, 2025, shares worth $171.9 million were available for repurchase under the existing authorization.

How Do Estimates Compare for OPRT & ENVA?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OPRT’s 2025 revenues implies a year-over-year fall of 4%, mainly because of a tough operating backdrop. On the other hand, the company’s 2026 revenues are expected to rise 8.1%.

Management expects total revenues to be in the range of $237-$242 million in the second quarter of 2025, down from $250.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Also, the metric is expected to be $945-$970 million in 2025 compared with $1 billion in 2024.

Further, the consensus estimate for Oportun’s earnings indicates a 63.9% and 39.2% jump for 2025 and 2026, respectively. The earnings estimates for both years have remained unchanged over the past month. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)

Earnings Trend for OPRT

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Oportun anticipates 2025 adjusted net income to be in the range of $53-$63 million compared with $29.3 million in 2024. Moreover, 2025 adjusted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1.10-$1.30, up from 72 cents in 2024.

On the other hand, the consensus mark for ENVA’s 2025 and 2026 revenues indicates a year-over-year rise of 17.8% and 14.3%, respectively. Also, the consensus estimate for earnings indicates 28.7% and 17.7% growth for 2025 and 2026, respectively. The earnings estimates for both years have remained unchanged over the past 30 days.

Earnings Trend for ENVA

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OPRT & ENVA: Valuation Analysis

Valuation-wise, OPRT is currently trading at the 12-month trailing price-to-tangible book (P/TB) of 1.22X. ENVA stock, on the other hand, is currently trading at the 12-month trailing P/TB of 3.31X.

OPRT & ENVA P/TB Ratio

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Thus, Oportun trades at a discount to Enova.

Oportun or Enova: Which Stock is a Better Pick?

Oportun and Enova operate at the intersection of fintech and the alternative consumer lending space, specializing in serving non-prime and underbanked customers. Both leverage proprietary data analytics, ML models and digital platforms to underwrite, originate and service loans efficiently.

While their product offerings slightly differ—Oportun leans more toward small-dollar personal loans with a focus on financial inclusion, and Enova offers a broader portfolio including installment loans, lines of credit and SMB loans—their core business models and target demographics are highly aligned.
 
Enova’s diversified lending portfolio across consumer and small business lending, strong profitability and robust cash flow generation will support it, while exposure to more subprime borrowers could adversely impact its financials in the case of a severe economic downturn.

On the other hand, despite near-term profitability challenges, Oportun’s focus on community-based lending and initiatives in expanding into new markets, including credit cards and secured personal loans, are expected to drive financials over time. Also, OPRT stock is currently inexpensive compared with ENVA. These factors make Oportun a better investment choice over Enova.

Currently, OPRT and Enova carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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