Critical Survey: Patria Investments (NYSE:PAX) vs. Sonim Technologies (NASDAQ:SONM)

Sonim Technologies (NASDAQ:SONM) and Patria Investments (NYSE:PAX) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.3% of Sonim Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.3% of Patria Investments shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Sonim Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 58.1% of Patria Investments shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sonim Technologies and Patria Investments, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonim Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Patria Investments	0	2	1	0	2.33

Patria Investments has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.98%. Given Patria Investments’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Patria Investments is more favorable than Sonim Technologies.

Risk and Volatility

Sonim Technologies has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Patria Investments has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sonim Technologies and Patria Investments”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sonim Technologies	$93.63 million	0.05	-$20.66 million	($13.39)	-0.25
Patria Investments	$399.23 million	1.88	$73.40 million	$0.44	25.59

Patria Investments has higher revenue and earnings than Sonim Technologies. Sonim Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Patria Investments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Sonim Technologies and Patria Investments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sonim Technologies	N/A	N/A	-26.46%
Patria Investments	19.91%	38.68%	15.84%

Summary

Patria Investments beats Sonim Technologies on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sonim Technologies

Sonim Technologies, Inc. provides ruggedized mobile phones and accessories for task workers. The company offers ruggedized mobile phones, such as Sonim XP10, Sonim XP5plus, Sonim XP3plus, and Sonim XP Pro; Sonim mobile hotspot; industrial-grade accessories. It sells its mobile phones and accessories primarily to wireless carriers in the United States and Canada; and sells wireless carrier channels through distribution channels in North America and Europe. The company serves transportation and logistics, construction, manufacturing, facilities management, energy and utility, mining, and public safety sectors. The company was formerly known as NaviSpin.com, Inc. and changed its name to Sonim Technologies, Inc. in December 2001. Sonim Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Patria Investments

Patria Investments Limited operates as a private market investment firm focused on investing in Latin America. The company offers asset management services to investors focusing on private equity funds, infrastructure development funds, co-investments funds, constructivist equity funds, and real estate and credit funds. Patria Investments Limited was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands.