Contrasting SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) and Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund (NYSE:PAI)

SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) and Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund (NYSE:PAI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.0% of Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

SuRo Capital has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for SuRo Capital and Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SuRo Capital	0	0	2	0	3.00
Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

SuRo Capital presently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.32%. Given SuRo Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe SuRo Capital is more favorable than Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SuRo Capital and Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SuRo Capital	$6.60 million	16.83	$5.07 million	($1.89)	-2.51
Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

SuRo Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund.

Profitability

This table compares SuRo Capital and Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SuRo Capital	-801.00%	-7.28%	-5.10%
Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

SuRo Capital beats Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SuRo Capital

SuRo Capital Corp. is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in growth capital, late stage and venture capital-backed private companies. SuRo Capital Corp. was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco, California with additional office in New York, New York.

About Western Asset Investment Grade Income Fund

Western Asset Income Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Western Asset Management Company. It is co-managed by Western Asset Management Company Limited. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in investment grade debt, including government securities, bank debt, commercial paper, and cash or cash equivalents. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index and the Barclays U.S. Credit Index. Western Asset Income Fund was formed on March 22, 1973 and is domiciled in the United States.