Head-To-Head Survey: Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) vs. Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA)

Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA) and Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Invent Ventures	2.14%	N/A	N/A
Saratoga Investment	29.12%	9.29%	3.17%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Invent Ventures and Saratoga Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Invent Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00
Saratoga Investment	0	5	0	0	2.00

Saratoga Investment has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.53%. Given Saratoga Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Saratoga Investment is more favorable than Invent Ventures.

Risk & Volatility

Invent Ventures has a beta of -50.4, suggesting that its share price is 5,140% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saratoga Investment has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

19.1% of Saratoga Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.4% of Invent Ventures shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of Saratoga Investment shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Invent Ventures and Saratoga Investment”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Invent Ventures	$740,000.00	3.80	$130,000.00	N/A	N/A
Saratoga Investment	$125.71 million	2.88	$36.60 million	$2.33	9.53

Saratoga Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Invent Ventures.

Summary

Saratoga Investment beats Invent Ventures on 9 of the 11 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 Saratoga Investment

Saratoga Investment Corp. is a business development company specializing in leveraged and management buyouts, acquisition financings, growth financings, recapitalization, debt refinancing, and transitional financing transactions at the lower end of middle market companies. It structures its investments as debt and equity by investing through first and second lien loans, mezzanine debt, co-investments, select high yield bonds, senior secured bonds, unsecured bonds, and preferred and common equity. The firm prefers to invest in aerospace, automotive aftermarket and services, business products and services, consumer products and services, education, environmental services, industrial services, financial services, food and beverage, healthcare products and services, logistics, distribution, manufacturing, restaurants services, food services, software services, technology services, specialty chemical, media and telecommunications. It seeks to invest in the United States. The firm primarily invests $5 million to $50 million in companies having EBITDA of $2 million or greater and revenues of $8 million to $250 million. The firm prefer to take a majority stake. It invests through direct lending as well as participation in loan syndicates. The firm was formerly known as GSC Investment Corp. Saratoga Investment Corp. was formed on 2007 and is based in New York, New York with an additional office in Florham Park, New Jersey.