Sphere 3D (NASDAQ:ANY – Get Free Report) and Runway Growth Finance (NASDAQ:RWAY – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.
Risk and Volatility
Sphere 3D has a beta of 2.99, indicating that its stock price is 199% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Runway Growth Finance has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Sphere 3D | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Runway Growth Finance | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2.38 |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Sphere 3D | $21.66 million | 1.22 | -$23.41 million | ($0.80) | -1.36 |
| Runway Growth Finance | $53.67 million | 7.72 | $44.34 million | $1.04 | 10.67 |
Runway Growth Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Sphere 3D. Sphere 3D is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Runway Growth Finance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Sphere 3D and Runway Growth Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Sphere 3D | -50.87% | -49.54% | -34.72% |
| Runway Growth Finance | 27.05% | 12.91% | 6.33% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
17.3% of Sphere 3D shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.6% of Runway Growth Finance shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Sphere 3D shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Runway Growth Finance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Runway Growth Finance beats Sphere 3D on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Sphere 3D
Sphere 3D Corp. engages in the bitcoin mining business. It is involved with digital asset mining pool operators to provide computing power to the mining pools. The company is based in Stamford, Connecticut.
About Runway Growth Finance
Runway Growth Finance Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in senior-secured loans to late stage and growth companies. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, life sciences, healthcare and information services, business services and select consumer services and products sectors. It prefers to investments in companies engaged in electronic equipment and instruments, systems software, hardware, storage and peripherals and specialized consumer services, application software, healthcare technology, internet software and services, data processing and outsourced services, internet retail, human resources and employment services, biotechnology, healthcare equipment and education services. It invests in senior secured loans between $10 million and $75 million.
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