Financial Survey: Atlantic International (NASDAQ:CIRC) versus Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) and Atlantic International (NASDAQ:CIRC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Navient and Atlantic International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navient	$3.20 billion	0.29	-$80.00 million	($0.50)	-19.56
Atlantic International	$435.88 million	0.11	-$59.43 million	($2.11)	-0.24

Atlantic International has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Navient. Navient is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Navient and Atlantic International, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navient	4	5	0	0	1.56
Atlantic International	1	1	0	1	2.33

Navient presently has a consensus price target of $9.14, suggesting a potential downside of 6.51%. Given Navient’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Navient is more favorable than Atlantic International.

Volatility and Risk

Navient has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic International has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Navient and Atlantic International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navient	-1.64%	4.68%	0.23%
Atlantic International	-19.39%	N/A	-28.58%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.1% of Navient shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.8% of Navient shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of Atlantic International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Navient beats Atlantic International on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Navient

Navient Corporation provides technology-enabled education finance and business processing solutions for education, health care, and government clients in the United States. It operates through three segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, and Business Processing. The company owns Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are insured or guaranteed by state or not-for-profit agencies; and performs servicing on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions. It also owns, originates, and services refinance and in-school private education loans; and offers business processing solutions, such as omnichannel contact center, workflow processing, and revenue cycle optimization services to federal agencies, state governments, tolling and parking authorities, other public sector clients, as well as hospitals, hospital systems, medical centers, large physician groups, other healthcare providers, and public health departments. In addition, the company provides corporate liquidity portfolio services. Navient Corporation was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

About Atlantic International

Atlantic International Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as a staffing company servicing the commercial, professional, finance, direct placement, and managed service provider verticals. The company specializes in permanent, temporary, and temporary-to-permanent placement services in various areas, including accounting and finance, administrative and clerical, hospitality, information technology, legal, light industrial, and medical fields. It also provides productivity consulting and workforce management solutions. Atlantic International Corp. was founded in 2018 and is based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.