Reviewing Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) & TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG)

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) and Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Amalgamated Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	54.12%	12.04%	5.29%
Amalgamated Financial	23.05%	14.60%	1.30%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Amalgamated Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	2	4	0	0	1.67
Amalgamated Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC presently has a consensus target price of $5.75, indicating a potential upside of 12.33%. Amalgamated Financial has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.43%. Given TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC is more favorable than Amalgamated Financial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.8% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.0%. Amalgamated Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays out 74.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amalgamated Financial pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Amalgamated Financial has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amalgamated Financial has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Amalgamated Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	$90.93 million	2.28	$49.21 million	$1.23	4.16
Amalgamated Financial	$453.17 million	2.43	$104.45 million	$3.41	10.82

Amalgamated Financial has higher revenue and earnings than TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amalgamated Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Amalgamated Financial beats TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in venture capital-backed companies at the growth stage investments. It also provides debt financing to venture growth space companies which includes growth capital loans, secured and customized loans, equipment financings, revolving loans and direct equity investments. The fund seeks to invest in e-commerce, entertainment, technology and life sciences sector. Within technology the areas of focus include: Security, wireless communication equipments, network system and software, business applications software, conferencing equipments/services .big data, cloud computing, data storage, electronics, energy efficiency, hardware, information services, internet and media, networking, semiconductors, software, software as a service, and other technology related subsectors and within life sciences the areas of focus include: biotechnology, bio fuels/bio mass, diagnostic testing and bioinformatics, drug delivery, drug discovery, healthcare information systems, healthcare services, medical, surgical and therapeutic devices, pharmaceuticals and other life science related subsectors. Within growth capital loans it invests between $5 million and $50 million, for equipment financings it invests between $5 million and $25 million, for revolving loans it invests between $1 million and $25 million, and for direct equity investments it may invest between $0.1 million and $5 million (generally not exceeding 5% of the company’s total equity). The debt financing products are typically structured as lines of credit and it invests through warrants and secured loans. It targeted returns between 10% and 18%. It does not take board seat in the company.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also provides various commercial loans comprising commercial and industrial, multifamily mortgage, and commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; and retail loans, such as residential real estate, consumer solar, and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company offers online banking, bill payment, online cash management, and safe deposit box rental services; debit and ATM cards; and trust, custody, and investment management services comprising asset safekeeping, corporate actions, income collections, proxy, account transition, asset transfers, and conversion management services. Further, it provides investment products, such as funds spanning equity, fixed-income, real estate, and alternative investment products; and brokerage, asset management, and insurance products. Amalgamated Financial Corp. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York, New York.