SURO Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) and BlackRock MuniVest Fund (NYSE:MVF) Critical Comparison

BlackRock MuniVest Fund (NYSE:MVF) and SURO Capital (NASDAQ:SSSS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for BlackRock MuniVest Fund and SURO Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BlackRock MuniVest Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
SURO Capital	0	0	5	1	3.17

SURO Capital has a consensus target price of $13.13, indicating a potential upside of 30.38%. Given SURO Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SURO Capital is more favorable than BlackRock MuniVest Fund.

Profitability

This table compares BlackRock MuniVest Fund and SURO Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BlackRock MuniVest Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
SURO Capital	2,894.90%	-8.12%	-5.94%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

48.2% of BlackRock MuniVest Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.9% of SURO Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of BlackRock MuniVest Fund shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of SURO Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

BlackRock MuniVest Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. SURO Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.9%. SURO Capital pays out 56.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BlackRock MuniVest Fund and SURO Capital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BlackRock MuniVest Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
SURO Capital	$80.97 million	3.16	$48.81 million	$1.77	5.69

SURO Capital has higher revenue and earnings than BlackRock MuniVest Fund.

Volatility and Risk

BlackRock MuniVest Fund has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SURO Capital has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SURO Capital beats BlackRock MuniVest Fund on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BlackRock MuniVest Fund

BlackRock MuniVest Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. It is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in investment grade, long term municipal obligations that are exempt from federal income taxes. The fund seeks to invest in securities with maturities of more than ten years. BlackRock MuniVest Fund, Inc. was formed on September 29, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

About SURO Capital

SuRo Capital Corp. is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in growth capital, late stage and venture capital-backed private companies. SuRo Capital Corp. was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco, California with additional office in New York, New York.