Contrasting TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) and Vinci Compass Investments (NASDAQ:VINP)

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

Dividends

Vinci Compass Investments pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 20.0%. Vinci Compass Investments pays out 97.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays out 92.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Vinci Compass Investments and TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vinci Compass Investments	23.77%	12.65%	6.67%
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	44.58%	10.68%	4.58%

Risk and Volatility

Vinci Compass Investments has a beta of 0.26, meaning that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Vinci Compass Investments and TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vinci Compass Investments	1	1	1	0	2.00
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	2	3	0	0	1.60

Vinci Compass Investments currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 60.55%. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC has a consensus target price of $5.17, suggesting a potential upside of 12.20%. Given Vinci Compass Investments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vinci Compass Investments is more favorable than TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vinci Compass Investments and TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vinci Compass Investments	$1.06 billion	0.54	$38.97 million	$0.70	12.46
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	$90.93 million	2.06	$49.21 million	$0.99	4.65

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

34.1% of Vinci Compass Investments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.8% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by institutional investors. 49.3% of Vinci Compass Investments shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Vinci Compass Investments beats TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vinci Compass Investments

Vinci Partners Investments Ltd. operates as an asset management firm in Brazil. The company focuses on private markets, liquid strategies, investment products and solutions, and retirement services. It offers private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, special situations, equities, hedge funds, and investment products and solutions comprising portfolio and management services. In addition, the company financial and strategic advisory services, focusing on IPO advisory and mergers and acquisition transactions to entrepreneurs, corporate senior management teams, and boards of directors. Vinci Partners Investments Ltd. was founded in 2009 and is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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.