Baltic International USA (OTCMKTS:BISA) versus CION Investment (NYSE:CION) Critical Comparison

Baltic International USA (OTCMKTS:BISA) and CION Investment (NYSE:CION) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

32.0% of CION Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.4% of Baltic International USA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of CION Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Baltic International USA has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CION Investment has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Baltic International USA and CION Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Baltic International USA	N/A	N/A	-806.45%
CION Investment	-4.57%	9.63%	4.00%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Baltic International USA and CION Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Baltic International USA	0	0	0	0	0.00
CION Investment	1	2	0	0	1.67

CION Investment has a consensus target price of $8.50, suggesting a potential downside of 12.60%. Given CION Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Baltic International USA.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Baltic International USA and CION Investment”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Baltic International USA	N/A	N/A	-$30,000.00	($0.01)	-0.60
CION Investment	$1.66 million	304.96	$33.90 million	($0.19)	-51.18

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Baltic International USA. CION Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Baltic International USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

CION Investment beats Baltic International USA on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Baltic International USA

Baltic International USA, Inc. does not have significant operations. It intends to investigate and acquire a target company or business seeking to become a publicly held corporation. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About CION Investment

CION Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in investments in senior secured loans, including unitranche loans, First Lien, second lien loans, long-term subordinated loans, and mezzanine loans; equity interests such as warrants or options; and corporate bonds; and other debt securities in middle-market companies. The firm invests in growth capital, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, market/product expansion, refinancing and recapitalization. The fund also invests up to 30 percent of their assets opportunistically in other types of investments, including the securities of larger public companies and foreign securities. It also makes investments in the secondary loan market. The fund does not invest in start-up companies, turnaround situations, or companies with speculative business plans. The fund prefers to invest in high tech industries, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, business services, media, chemicals, plastic, rubber, telecommunication, consumer services, advertising, printing and publishing, consumer goods, durables, diversified financials, and other industries. It also invests in homebuilding, restaurants, beverage and tobacco bars, broadcasting, distributors, Non-durable good distribution, food beverage and tobacco, energy, oil gas and consumables fuels, insurance, aerospace and defense, industrial machinery, paper and forest product machinery, information technology, metals and mining, and real estate. It primarily seeks to invest in the United States. The fund seeks to invest between $5 million and $50 million in companies with an EBITDA between $25 million and $75 million with average targeted hold of $25 million. It also purchases minority interests in the form of common or preferred equity in the target companies, typically in conjunction with its debt investments or through a co-investment with a financial sponsor. The fund seeks to exit its investments through an initial public offering of common stock, a merger, a sale, or other recapitalization.