Financial Comparison: CION Investment (NYSE:CION) vs. Compass Digital Acquisition (NASDAQ:CDAQ)

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Compass Digital Acquisition (NASDAQ:CDAQ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.0% of CION Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.4% of Compass Digital Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of CION Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.4% of Compass Digital Acquisition 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CION Investment and Compass Digital Acquisition’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CION Investment	$138.48 million	4.56	$95.31 million	$2.44	4.83
Compass Digital Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Compass Digital Acquisition.

Profitability

This table compares CION Investment and Compass Digital Acquisition’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CION Investment	48.50%	12.39%	5.48%
Compass Digital Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

CION Investment has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Digital Acquisition has a beta of 0.01, meaning that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for CION Investment and Compass Digital Acquisition, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CION Investment	0	1	0	0	2.00
Compass Digital Acquisition	0	0	0	0	N/A

CION Investment presently has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.78%. Given CION Investment’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Compass Digital Acquisition.

Summary

CION Investment beats Compass Digital Acquisition on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Compass Digital Acquisition

Compass Digital Acquisition Corp. does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The company intends to focus its search on companies in the technology sectors, including in the technology led digital transformation software and services sector. Compass Digital Acquisition Corp. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Dallas, Texas.