MidCap Financial Investment (NASDAQ:MFIC) & BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust (NYSE:BKN) Head-To-Head Analysis

MidCap Financial Investment (NASDAQ:MFIC) and BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust (NYSE:BKN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares MidCap Financial Investment and BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MidCap Financial Investment	$110.35 million	9.10	$118.76 million	$1.31	8.18
BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust	$8.19 million	23.83	N/A	N/A	N/A

MidCap Financial Investment has higher revenue and earnings than BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.5% of MidCap Financial Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.7% of BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of MidCap Financial Investment shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares MidCap Financial Investment and BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MidCap Financial Investment	37.05%	11.37%	4.70%
BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for MidCap Financial Investment and BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MidCap Financial Investment	0	2	3	0	2.60
BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

MidCap Financial Investment presently has a consensus target price of $14.60, indicating a potential upside of 36.28%. Given MidCap Financial Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe MidCap Financial Investment is more favorable than BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust.

Volatility and Risk

MidCap Financial Investment has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

MidCap Financial Investment pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.2%. BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. MidCap Financial Investment pays out 116.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

MidCap Financial Investment beats BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MidCap Financial Investment

MidCap Financial Investment Corporation (Former name Apollo Investment Corporation) is business development company and a closed-end, externally managed, non-diversified management investment company. It is elected to be treated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) specializing in private equity investments in leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, recapitalizations, growth capital, refinancing and private middle market companies. It provides direct equity capital, mezzanine, first lien secured loans, stretch senior loans, unitranche loans, second lien secured loans and senior secured loans, unsecured debt, and subordinated debt and loans. It also seeks to invest in PIPES transactions. The fund may also invest in securities of public companies that are thinly traded and may acquire investments in the secondary market and structured products. It prefers to invest in preferred equity, common equity / interests and warrants and makes equity co-investments. It may invest in cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, high-yield bonds, distressed debt, non-U.S. investments, or securities of public companies that are not thinly traded. It also focuses on other investments such as collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and credit-linked notes (CLNs). The fund typically invests in construction and building materials, business services, plastics & rubber, advertising, capital equipment, education, cable television, chemicals, consumer products/goods durable and non-durable and customer services, direct marketing, energy oil & gas, electricity and utilities. The fund also invest in aerospace & defense, wholesale, telecommunications, financial services, hotel, gaming, leisure, restaurants; environmental industries, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, high tech industries, beverages, food and tobacco, manufacturing, media diversified & production, printing and publishing, retail, automation, aviation and consumer transport, transportation, cargo and distribution. It primarily invests in United States. It primarily invests between $20 million and $250 million in its portfolio companies and EBITDA with less than $75 million. The fund seeks to make investments with stated maturities of five to 10 years.

About BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust

BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust Inc. is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. It is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It invests primarily in investment grade municipal bonds municipal obligations exempt from federal income taxes. Blackrock Investment Quality Municipal Trust Inc. was formed on February 28, 1993 and is domiciled in United States.