Comparing Sprott Focus Trust (NASDAQ:FUND) & SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS)

Sprott Focus Trust (NASDAQ:FUND) and SuRo Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

12.6% of Sprott Focus Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 50.6% of Sprott Focus Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of SuRo Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Sprott Focus Trust and SuRo Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sprott Focus Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
SuRo Capital	-256.84%	-6.47%	-4.63%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Sprott Focus Trust and SuRo Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sprott Focus Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A
SuRo Capital	0	0	2	0	3.00

SuRo Capital has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.20%. Given SuRo Capital’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SuRo Capital is more favorable than Sprott Focus Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Sprott Focus Trust has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SuRo Capital has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sprott Focus Trust and SuRo Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sprott Focus Trust	$16.60 million	14.03	N/A	N/A	N/A
SuRo Capital	$6.60 million	17.25	$5.07 million	($0.67)	-7.27

SuRo Capital has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sprott Focus Trust.

About Sprott Focus Trust

Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Sprott Asset Management, LP. The fund is co-managed by Sprott Asset Management USA Inc. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies across all market capitalizations. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Russell 3000 Index. It was formerly known as Royce Focus Trust, Inc. Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. was formed on March 2, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

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.