Head-To-Head Review: Aura FAT Projects Acquisition (NASDAQ:AFAR) and CION Investment (NYSE:CION)

Aura FAT Projects Acquisition (NASDAQ:AFAR) and CION Investment (NYSE:CION) are both small-cap unclassified companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Aura FAT Projects Acquisition and CION Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	0	0	0	0	0.00
CION Investment	0	2	0	0	2.00

CION Investment has a consensus target price of $12.25, suggesting a potential upside of 1.28%. Given CION Investment’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CION Investment is more favorable than Aura FAT Projects Acquisition.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aura FAT Projects Acquisition and CION Investment”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CION Investment	$90.95 million	7.09	$95.31 million	$1.47	8.23

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Aura FAT Projects Acquisition.

Risk and Volatility

Aura FAT Projects Acquisition has a beta of 0.01, indicating that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CION Investment has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Aura FAT Projects Acquisition and CION Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aura FAT Projects Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A
CION Investment	31.21%	11.49%	5.04%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.3% of Aura FAT Projects Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of CION Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 49.7% of Aura FAT Projects Acquisition shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of CION Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CION Investment beats Aura FAT Projects Acquisition on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aura FAT Projects Acquisition

Aura FAT Projects Acquisition Corp does not have significant operations. The company intends to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. It focuses on acquiring technology companies with Web 3.0, blockchain, cryptocurrency, digital ledger, e-gaming, and other new financial technology and services applications in Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Singapore.

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.