Comparing MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) & CV (OTCMKTS:CVHL)

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) and CV (OTCMKTS:CVHL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of MFA Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of CV shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares MFA Financial and CV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MFA Financial	17.62%	8.61%	1.39%
CV	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

MFA Financial has a beta of 1.7, indicating that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CV has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for MFA Financial and CV, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MFA Financial	1	3	4	0	2.38
CV	0	0	0	0	0.00

MFA Financial presently has a consensus price target of $11.75, suggesting a potential upside of 28.88%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than CV.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MFA Financial and CV”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MFA Financial	$254.80 million	3.67	$119.25 million	$0.87	10.48
CV	$25.67 million	0.03	-$18.15 million	N/A	N/A

MFA Financial has higher revenue and earnings than CV.

Summary

MFA Financial beats CV on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

About CV

CV Holdings, Inc. operates as a specialty finance company. It owns finance platforms across various businesses, including small-ticket equipment financing and commercial real estate bridge lending. CV Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Newport Beach, California.