Financial Survey: CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Aura FAT Projects Acquisition (NASDAQ:AFAR)

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Aura FAT Projects Acquisition (NASDAQ:AFAR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for CION Investment and Aura FAT Projects Acquisition, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CION Investment	0	2	0	0	2.00
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	0	0	0	0	0.00

CION Investment currently has a consensus target price of $12.25, suggesting a potential downside of 2.23%. Given CION Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Aura FAT Projects Acquisition.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.0% of CION Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.3% of Aura FAT Projects Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of CION Investment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 49.7% of Aura FAT Projects Acquisition shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

CION Investment has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aura FAT Projects Acquisition has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CION Investment and Aura FAT Projects Acquisition’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CION Investment	31.21%	11.49%	5.04%
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CION Investment and Aura FAT Projects 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	$90.95 million	7.34	$95.31 million	$1.47	8.52
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Aura FAT Projects Acquisition.

Summary

CION Investment beats Aura FAT Projects Acquisition on 7 of the 9 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 Aura FAT Projects Acquisition

Aura FAT Projects Acquisition Corp does not have significant operations. The company intends to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. It focuses on acquiring technology companies with Web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrency, digital ledger, e-gaming, and other new financial technology and services applications in Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Singapore.