Dave Inc./DE vs PennyMac Financial Services, Inc., two Mortgage Finance stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Dave earns 42.4% on assets; PennyMac earns 1.6%, and the twenty-six-fold gap is business physics rather than skill: an asset-light advance app against a balance-sheet mortgage franchise where the assets ARE the business. PennyMac converts scale into a 23.5% net margin and a 1.4% dividend at 9.1 times earnings; Dave converts efficiency into 37.2% margins at 22.4 times. The leverage postures match the models, zero against 1.44 turns. PennyMac's negative 87.9% free-cash figure is loan-flow accounting; Dave's 6.5% yield is cash in the ordinary sense. Two profitable consumer-finance firms of the same size, one priced on its earnings, the other on its per-dollar brilliance.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | DAVE | PFSI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $348.69 | $86.05 |
| Market cap | $5.0B | $4.6B |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Stage | Growth | Growth |
| P/E | 22.4 | 9.1 |
| P/B | 24.64 | 1.07 |
| P/S | 8.30 | 2.15 |
| EV/EBITDA | 3009.7 | 787.9 |
| Revenue growth | +59.1% | +26.0% |
| Net margin | 37.2% | 23.5% |
| Return on equity | 110.4% | 11.7% |
| Return on assets | 42.4% | 1.6% |
| Dividend yield | — | 1.4% |
| Debt / equity | 0.00 | 1.44 |
| Current ratio | 3.86 | — |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.21 | 0.36 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.