Critical Review: Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV (NASDAQ:THCP) & CION Investment (NYSE:CION)

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV (NASDAQ:THCP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CION Investment and Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CION Investment	$138.48 million	4.60	$95.31 million	$2.44	4.87
Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV	N/A	N/A	$4.09 million	N/A	N/A

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.0% of CION Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.2% of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of CION Investment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 65.1% of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV shares are held by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for CION Investment and Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CION Investment	0	1	0	0	2.00
Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV	0	0	0	0	N/A

CION Investment currently has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.93%. Given CION Investment’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV.

Profitability

This table compares CION Investment and Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV’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%
Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV	N/A	-15.04%	-0.48%

Summary

CION Investment beats Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV 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 Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV

Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV Inc. does not have significant operations. The company intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the financial services industry. Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Great Falls, Virginia.