Comparing Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) and Insight Select Income Fund (NYSE:INSI)

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC – Get Rating) and Insight Select Income Fund (NYSE:INSI – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hercules Capital and Insight Select Income Fund’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Hercules Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Insight Select Income Fund.

Risk & Volatility

Hercules Capital has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Insight Select Income Fund has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hercules Capital and Insight Select Income Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Hercules Capital and Insight Select Income Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Hercules Capital currently has a consensus price target of $18.54, indicating a potential upside of 27.48%. Given Hercules Capital’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hercules Capital is more favorable than Insight Select Income Fund.

Dividends

Hercules Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.1%. Insight Select Income Fund pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Hercules Capital pays out 155.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hercules Capital has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Hercules Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

25.5% of Hercules Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.1% of Insight Select Income Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Hercules Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of Insight Select Income Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Hercules Capital beats Insight Select Income Fund on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

Hercules Capital Company Profile (Get Rating)

Hercules Capital, Inc. is a business development company. The firm specializing in providing venture debt, debt, senior secured loans, and growth capital to privately held venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development from startups, to expansion stage including select publicly listed companies and select special opportunity lower middle market companies that require additional capital to fund acquisitions, recapitalizations and refinancing and established-stage companies. The firm provides growth capital financing solutions for capital extension; management buy-out and corporate spin-out financing solutions; company, asset specific, or intellectual property acquisition financing; convertible, subordinated and/or mezzanine loans; domestic and international corporate expansion; vendor financing; revenue acceleration by sales and marketing development, and manufacturing expansion. It provides asset-based financing with a focus on cash flow; accounts receivable facilities; equipment loans or leases; equipment acquisition; facilities build-out and/or expansion; working capital revolving lines of credit; inventory. The firm also provides bridge financing to IPO or mergers and acquisitions or technology acquisition; dividend recapitalizations and other sources of investor liquidity; cash flow financing to protect against share price volatility; competitor acquisition; pre-IPO financing for extra cash on the balance sheet; public company financing to continue asset growth and production capacity; short-term bridge financing; and strategic and intellectual property acquisition financings. It also focuses on customized financing solutions, emerging growth, mid venture, and late venture financing. The firm invests primarily in structured debt with warrants and, to a lesser extent, in senior debt and equity investments. The firm generally seeks to invest in companies that have been operating for at least six to 12 months prior to the date of their investment. It prefers to invest in technology, energy technology, sustainable and renewable technology, and life sciences. Within technology the firm focuses on advanced specialty materials and chemicals; communication and networking, consumer and business products; consumer products and services, digital media and consumer internet; electronics and computer hardware; enterprise software and services; gaming; healthcare services; information services; business services; media, content and information; mobile; resource management; security software; semiconductors; semiconductors and hardware; and software sector. Within energy technology, it invests in agriculture; clean technology; energy and renewable technology, fuels and power technology; geothermal; smart grid and energy efficiency and monitoring technologies; solar; and wind. Within life sciences, the firm invests in biopharmaceuticals; biotechnology tools; diagnostics; drug discovery, development and delivery; medical devices and equipment; surgical devices; therapeutics; pharma services; and specialty pharmaceuticals. It also invests in educational services. The firm invests primarily in United States based companies and considers investment in the West Coast, Mid-Atlantic regions, Southeast and Midwest; particularly in the areas of software, biotech and information services. The firm prefers to invest between $10 million to $250 million in equity per transactions. It invests generally between $1 million to $40 million in companies focused primarily on business services, communications, electronics, hardware, and healthcare services. The firm invests primarily in private companies but also have investments in public companies. For equity investments, the firm seeks to represent a controlling interest in its portfolio companies which may exceed 25% of the voting securities of such companies. The firm seeks to invest a limited portion of its assets in equipment-based loans to early-stage prospective portfolio companies. These loans are generally for amounts up to $3 million but may be up to $15 million for certain energy technology venture investments. The firm allows certain debt investments have the right to convert a portion of the debt investment into equity. It also co-invests with other private equity firms. The firm seeks to exit its investments through initial public offering, a private sale of equity interest to a third party, a merger or an acquisition of the company or a purchase of the equity position by the company or one of its stockholders. The firm has structured debt with warrants which typically have maturities of between two and seven years with an average of three years; senior debt with an investment horizon of less than three years; equipment loans with an investment horizon ranging from three to four years; and equity related securities with an investment horizon ranging from three to seven years. The firm prefers to invest through its balance sheet capital. The firm formerly known as Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. Hercules Capital, Inc. was founded in December 2003 and is based in Palo Alto, California with additional offices in Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; San Diego, California; Westport, Connecticut; Elmhurst, Illinois; Santa Monica, California; McLean, Virginia; New York, New York; Radnor, Pennsylvania; and Washington, District of Columbia and London, United Kingdom.

Insight Select Income Fund Company Profile (Get Rating)

Insight Select Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Cutwater Asset Management Corp. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in short-term and long-term debt securities. The fund invests in the securities rated within the highest four grades by Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s, obligations of the U.S. Government, or obligations of banks. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond TR Index. The fund was formerly known as Cutwater Select Income Fund. Insight Select Income Fund was formed on October 13, 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.

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