Head to Head Comparison: Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) versus Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY)

Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY) and Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Sphere 3D has a beta of 2.91, meaning that its stock price is 191% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Runway Growth Finance has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

17.3% of Sphere 3D shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.6% of Runway Growth Finance shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of Sphere 3D shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Runway Growth Finance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sphere 3D	-50.87%	-49.54%	-34.72%
Runway Growth Finance	27.05%	12.91%	6.33%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sphere 3D	0	0	1	0	3.00
Runway Growth Finance	0	5	3	0	2.38

Sphere 3D currently has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 197.03%. Runway Growth Finance has a consensus target price of $11.96, indicating a potential upside of 7.73%. Given Sphere 3D’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sphere 3D is more favorable than Runway Growth Finance.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sphere 3D	$21.66 million	1.13	-$23.41 million	($0.80)	-1.26
Runway Growth Finance	$53.67 million	7.72	$44.34 million	$1.04	10.67

Runway Growth Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Sphere 3D. Sphere 3D is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Runway Growth Finance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Runway Growth Finance beats Sphere 3D on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sphere 3D

Sphere 3D Corp. engages in the bitcoin mining business. It is involved with digital asset mining pool operators to provide computing power to the mining pools. The company is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Runway Growth Finance

Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors. It prefers to investments in companies engaged in electronic equipment and instruments, systems software, hardware, storage and peripherals and specialized consumer services, application software, healthcare technology, internet software and services, data processing and outsourced services, internet retail, human resources and employment services, biotechnology, healthcare equipment and education services. It invests in senior secured loans between $10 million and $75 million.