Reviewing Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) and Bimini Capital Management (OTCMKTS:BMNM)

Bimini Capital Management (OTCMKTS:BMNM) and Franklin BSP Realty Trust (NYSE:FBRT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Bimini Capital Management and Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bimini Capital Management	5.98%	11.89%	0.63%
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	38.83%	8.86%	1.91%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

59.9% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Bimini Capital Management shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Franklin BSP Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Bimini Capital Management has a beta of 0.04, meaning that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Bimini Capital Management and Franklin BSP Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bimini Capital Management	0	0	0	0	0.00
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	1	1	3	0	2.40

Franklin BSP Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.59%. Given Franklin BSP Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Franklin BSP Realty Trust is more favorable than Bimini Capital Management.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bimini Capital Management and Franklin BSP Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bimini Capital Management	$11.90 million	2.78	-$1.31 million	$0.09	36.56
Franklin BSP Realty Trust	$210.45 million	3.97	$95.88 million	$0.80	12.81

Franklin BSP Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Bimini Capital Management. Franklin BSP Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bimini Capital Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Franklin BSP Realty Trust beats Bimini Capital Management on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bimini Capital Management

Bimini Capital Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Asset Management and Investment Portfolio. The Asset Management segment includes investment advisory services by Bimini Advisors to Orchid Island Capital, Inc. and Royal Palm Capital, LLC. The Investment Portfolio segment engages in investment activities conducted by Royal Palm Capital, LLC. It invests in residential mortgage-backed securities. The company was formerly known as Opteum Inc. and changed its name to Bimini Capital Management, Inc. in September 2007. Bimini Capital Management, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is based in Vero Beach, Florida.

About Franklin BSP Realty Trust

Benefit Street Partners operates as a self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). BSP earns income from investing in a leveraged portfolio of residential mortgage pass-through securities consisting almost exclusively of adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) securities issued and guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprises, either Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)), or by an agency of the federal government, Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). BSP’s investment strategy focuses on managing a portfolio of residential mortgage investments consisting almost exclusively of ARM Agency Securities. As of December 31, 2012, the Company’s securities consisted of Agency Securities classified as available-for-sale and Residential mortgage securities classified as held-to-maturity.