Head-To-Head Contrast: Great Elm Group (NASDAQ:GEG) vs. PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX)

Great Elm Group (NASDAQ:GEG) and PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Great Elm Group has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PhenixFIN has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Great Elm Group and PhenixFIN”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Great Elm Group	$27.78 million	2.42	-$35.76 million	($1.15)	-1.88
PhenixFIN	$14.16 million	5.85	$18.62 million	$2.41	17.80

PhenixFIN has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Great Elm Group. Great Elm Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PhenixFIN, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.8% of Great Elm Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.3% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by institutional investors. 49.7% of Great Elm Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.2% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Great Elm Group and PhenixFIN’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Great Elm Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
PhenixFIN	72.98%	2.95%	1.68%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Great Elm Group and PhenixFIN, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Great Elm Group	1	0	0	0	1.00
PhenixFIN	0	1	0	0	2.00

Summary

PhenixFIN beats Great Elm Group on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Great Elm Group

Great Elm Group, Inc. operates as a asset management company. The company engages in credit, real estate, and finance businesses. It is also involved in business development related activities and offers investment management services. The company was formerly known as Great Elm Capital Group, Inc. and changed its name to Great Elm Group, Inc. in December 2020. Great Elm Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About PhenixFIN

PhenixFIN Corporation is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in privately negotiated debt and equity securities of small and middle market companies. It primarily invests in the following sectors: business services; buildings and real estate; automobile; oil and gas; aerospace and defense; home and office furnishings, housewares, and durable consumer products; healthcare, education and childcare; personal, food, and miscellaneous services; retail stores, diversified or conglomerate manufacturing; telecommunications; mining, steel, iron, and non-precious metals; leisure, amusement, motion pictures, and entertainment; chemicals, plastics, and rubber; finance; personal and nondurable consumer products (manufacturing only); beverage, food, and tobacco; containers, packaging, and glass; structure finance securities; machinery (non-agriculture, non-construction, non-electric); diversified or conglomerate service; restaurant and franchise; electronics; and cargo transport. The fund seeks to invest in companies located in North America. The fund targets private debt transactions in companies with enterprise values or asset values between $25 million and $250 million. The fund seeks to invest in companies with debt investment values between $10 million and $50 million. It exits its investments between three years and seven years; it holds most of its investments to maturity or repayment, but may realize or sell some investments earlier. The fund may take a board seat on its investee companies and can also offer managerial assistance to certain portfolio companies. It structures its investments as first lien senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loans, senior secured notes, senior subordinated notes, subordinate notes, unitranche loans, and seeks warrants or other equity participation. The fund may co-invest in privately negotiated transactions under certain conditions. PhenixFIN Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York.