Analyzing StoneX Group (NASDAQ:SNEX) & CION Investment (NYSE:CION)

StoneX Group (NASDAQ:SNEX) and CION Investment (NYSE:CION) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

StoneX Group has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CION Investment has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for StoneX Group and CION Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StoneX Group	0	3	1	0	2.25
CION Investment	1	2	0	0	1.67

StoneX Group presently has a consensus price target of $112.00, suggesting a potential upside of 104.18%. CION Investment has a consensus price target of $6.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.77%. Given StoneX Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe StoneX Group is more favorable than CION Investment.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.9% of StoneX Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of CION Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.8% of StoneX Group 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares StoneX Group and CION Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StoneX Group	0.33%	20.18%	1.05%
CION Investment	1.17%	11.95%	4.52%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares StoneX Group 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
StoneX Group	$157.71 billion	0.04	$305.90 million	$4.19	13.09
CION Investment	$14.59 million	22.32	-$20.63 million	$0.06	110.28

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

Summary

StoneX Group beats CION Investment on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About StoneX Group

StoneX Group Inc. operates as a global financial services network that connects companies, organizations, traders, and investors to market ecosystem worldwide. The company operates through Commercial, Institutional, Retail, and Global Payments segments. The Commercial segment provides risk management and hedging, exchange-traded and OTC products execution and clearing, voice brokerage, market intelligence, physical trading, and commodity financing and logistics services. The Institutional segment offers equity trading services to institutional clients; clearing and execution services in futures exchanges; brokerage foreign exchange services for the financial institutions and professional traders; and OTC products, as well as originates, structures, and places debt instruments in capital markets. This segment also operates as an institutional dealer in fixed income securities to serve asset managers, commercial bank trust and investment departments, broker-dealers, and insurance companies, as well as engages in asset management business. The Retail segment provides trading services and solutions in the global financial markets, including spot foreign exchange, precious metals trading, and contracts for differences; and wealth management services, as well as offers physical gold and other precious metals in various forms and denominations through Stonexbullion.com. The Global Payments segment provides customized payment, technology, and treasury services to banks and commercial businesses, charities, and non-governmental and government organizations; and pricing and payments services. The company was formerly known as INTL FCStone Inc. and changed its name to StoneX Group Inc. in July 2020. StoneX Group Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

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.