CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Melar Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:MACI) Critical Analysis

CION Investment (NYSE:CION) and Melar Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:MACI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

32.0% of CION Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of CION Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for CION Investment and Melar Acquisition Corp. I, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CION Investment	1	1	0	0	1.50
Melar Acquisition Corp. I	0	0	0	0	0.00

CION Investment presently has a consensus target price of $11.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.26%. Given CION Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Melar Acquisition Corp. I.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CION Investment and Melar Acquisition Corp. I”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CION Investment	$90.95 million	6.40	$95.31 million	$0.63	17.34
Melar Acquisition Corp. I	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Melar Acquisition Corp. I.

Profitability

This table compares CION Investment and Melar Acquisition Corp. I’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CION Investment	31.21%	11.49%	5.04%
Melar Acquisition Corp. I	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

CION Investment beats Melar Acquisition Corp. I on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CION Investment

CION Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in investments in senior secured loans, including unitranche loans, First Lien, second lien loans, long-term subordinated loans, and mezzanine loans; equity interests such as warrants or options; and corporate bonds; and other debt securities in middle-market companies. The firm invests in growth capital, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, market/product expansion, refinancing and recapitalization. The fund also invests up to 30 percent of their assets opportunistically in other types of investments, including the securities of larger public companies and foreign securities. It also makes investments in the secondary loan market. The fund does not invest in start-up companies, turnaround situations, or companies with speculative business plans. The fund prefers to invest in high tech industries, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, business services, media, chemicals, plastic, rubber, telecommunication, consumer services, advertising, printing and publishing, consumer goods, durables, diversified financials, and other industries. It also invests in homebuilding, restaurants, beverage and tobacco bars, broadcasting, distributors, Non-durable good distribution, food beverage and tobacco, energy, oil gas and consumables fuels, insurance, aerospace and defense, industrial machinery, paper and forest product machinery, information technology, metals and mining, and real estate. It primarily seeks to invest in the United States. The fund seeks to invest between $5 million and $50 million in companies with an EBITDA between $25 million and $75 million with average targeted hold of $25 million. It also purchases minority interests in the form of common or preferred equity in the target companies, typically in conjunction with its debt investments or through a co-investment with a financial sponsor. The fund seeks to exit its investments through an initial public offering of common stock, a merger, a sale, or other recapitalization.

About Melar Acquisition Corp. I

Melar Acquisition Corp. I is a blank check company. It formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Melar Acquisition Corp. I is based in NEW YORK.