Analyzing Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA) and WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF)

Invent Ventures (OTCMKTS:IDEA) and WhiteHorse Finance (NASDAQ:WHF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

13.2% of WhiteHorse Finance shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.4% of Invent Ventures shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of WhiteHorse Finance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Invent Ventures has a beta of -52.44, suggesting that its share price is 5,344% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WhiteHorse Finance has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Invent Ventures and WhiteHorse Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Invent Ventures	91.12%	N/A	N/A
WhiteHorse Finance	4.36%	10.72%	4.51%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Invent Ventures and WhiteHorse Finance, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Invent Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00
WhiteHorse Finance	3	4	0	0	1.57

WhiteHorse Finance has a consensus price target of $9.17, suggesting a potential upside of 40.38%. Given WhiteHorse Finance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WhiteHorse Finance is more favorable than Invent Ventures.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Invent Ventures and WhiteHorse Finance”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Invent Ventures	$790,000.00	3.24	$710,000.00	N/A	N/A
WhiteHorse Finance	$92.82 million	1.63	$10.85 million	$0.15	43.53

WhiteHorse Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Invent Ventures.

Summary

WhiteHorse Finance beats Invent Ventures on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Invent Ventures

Invent Ventures, Inc., formerly known as Los Angeles Syndicate of Technology, Inc., is venture capital firm specializing in incubation, seed, start ups, growth capital, and early stage investments. The firm prefers to invest in technology companies including web-based software, digital media, mobile applications, social media, consumer internet, online advertising and healthcare technology . It prefers to invest in the Los Angeles area of United States. The firm seeks to invest up to $0.25 million. Invent Ventures, Inc. was founded on August 18, 2005 and is based in Santa Monica, California.

About WhiteHorse Finance

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. is business development company, non-diversified, closed end management company specializing in originating senior secured loans, lower middle market, growth capital industries. It invests in broadline retail, office services and supplies, building products, health care services, health care supplies, research and consulting services, application software, home furnishings, specialized consumer services, data processing and outsourced services, leisure facilities, cable, and satellite. It prefers to invest in United States. It typically invests between $5 million to $25 million in companies having enterprise value of between $50 million and $350 million.