Comparing Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA) and Medallion Financial (NASDAQ:MFIN)

Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA) and Medallion Financial (NASDAQ:MFIN) 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, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Invent Ventures and Medallion Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Invent Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00
Medallion Financial	0	0	1	0	3.00

Medallion Financial has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.53%. Given Medallion Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Medallion Financial is more favorable than Invent Ventures.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

40.6% of Medallion Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.4% of Invent Ventures shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.6% of Medallion Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Invent Ventures has a beta of -50.5, suggesting that its share price is 5,150% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medallion Financial has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Invent Ventures and Medallion Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Invent Ventures	91.12%	N/A	N/A
Medallion Financial	12.62%	9.04%	1.46%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Invent Ventures and Medallion Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Invent Ventures	$790,000.00	1.52	$710,000.00	N/A	N/A
Medallion Financial	$302.03 million	0.81	$35.88 million	$1.76	6.01

Medallion Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Invent Ventures.

Summary

Medallion Financial beats Invent Ventures on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Invent Ventures

Invent Ventures, Inc., formerly known as Los Angeles Syndicate of Technology, Inc., is venture capital firm specializing in incubation, seed, start ups, growth capital, and early stage investments. The firm prefers to invest in technology companies including web-based software, digital media, mobile applications, social media, consumer internet, online advertising and healthcare technology . It prefers to invest in the Los Angeles area of United States. The firm seeks to invest up to $0.25 million. Invent Ventures, Inc. was founded on August 18, 2005 and is based in Santa Monica, California.

About Medallion Financial

Medallion Financial Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. It operates in four segments: Recreation Lending, Home Improvement Lending, Commercial Lending, and Taxi Medallion Lending. The company offers loans that finance consumer purchases of recreational vehicles, boats, and other consumer recreational equipment; consumer financing for window, siding, and roof replacement, swimming pool installations, and other home improvement projects; senior and subordinated loans for the purchase of equipment and related assets necessary to open a new business, or purchase or improvement of an existing business; and taxi medallion loans to individuals and small to mid-size businesses. It also provides debt, mezzanine, and equity investment capital to companies in various commercial industries; and raises deposits and conducts other banking activities. Medallion Financial Corp. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in New York City, New York.