Critical Comparison: SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) versus PCM Fund (NYSE:PCM)

SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) and PCM Fund (NYSE:PCM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for SuRo Capital and PCM Fund, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SuRo Capital	0	0	2	0	3.00
PCM Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

SuRo Capital presently has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.56%. Given SuRo Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe SuRo Capital is more favorable than PCM Fund.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SuRo Capital and PCM Fund”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SuRo Capital	$6.60 million	20.72	$5.07 million	($1.89)	-3.10
PCM Fund	$5.49 million	17.02	N/A	N/A	N/A

SuRo Capital has higher revenue and earnings than PCM Fund.

Risk and Volatility

SuRo Capital has a beta of 1.66, suggesting that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PCM Fund has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares SuRo Capital and PCM Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SuRo Capital	-801.00%	-7.28%	-5.10%
PCM Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.3% of PCM Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of PCM Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

SuRo Capital beats PCM Fund on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SuRo Capital

SuRo Capital Corp. is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in growth capital, late stage and venture capital-backed private companies. SuRo Capital Corp. was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco, California with additional office in New York, New York.

About PCM Fund

PCM Fund Inc. is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. The fund is co-managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. It seeks to invest in fixed income markets. The fund invests primarily in commercial mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental analysis with a focus on top down stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Barclay’s CMBS Investment Grade Index. PCM Fund Inc was formed on September 2, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.