Head to Head Analysis: U.S. Global Investors (NASDAQ:GROW) and Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI)

U.S. Global Investors (NASDAQ:GROW) and Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

U.S. Global Investors has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Corporate Investors has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

U.S. Global Investors pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Barings Corporate Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. U.S. Global Investors pays out 150.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares U.S. Global Investors and Barings Corporate Investors”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Global Investors	$8.45 million	4.46	-$330,000.00	$0.06	48.48
Barings Corporate Investors	$34.34 million	12.29	N/A	N/A	N/A

Barings Corporate Investors has higher revenue and earnings than U.S. Global Investors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

23.6% of U.S. Global Investors shares are held by institutional investors. 19.2% of U.S. Global Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Barings Corporate Investors shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Global Investors and Barings Corporate Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Global Investors	10.04%	1.86%	1.75%
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for U.S. Global Investors and Barings Corporate Investors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Global Investors	0	1	0	0	2.00
Barings Corporate Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00

Summary

U.S. Global Investors beats Barings Corporate Investors on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Global Investors

U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. It primarily provides its services to investment companies. The firm is a large advisory firm, an investment adviser to an investment company which provides portfolio management for investment companies. The firm manages and launches equity/balanced funds, fixed income funds and other funds. It also manages hedge funds. The firm primarily invests in no-load mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is based in San Antonio, Texas.

About Barings Corporate Investors

Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in a portfolio of privately placed, below-investment grade, long term corporate debt obligations. The fund also invests in marketable investment grade debt securities, other marketable debt securities, and marketable common stocks. It was formerly known as Babson Capital Corporate Investors. Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust was formed in 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.