Reviewing Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) & DeFi Development (NASDAQ:DFDV)

DeFi Development (NASDAQ:DFDV) and Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares DeFi Development and Acacia Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DeFi Development	-1,319.45%	17.97%	5.02%
Acacia Research	-5.39%	0.44%	0.33%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares DeFi Development and Acacia Research”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DeFi Development	$11.39 million	12.94	-$73.79 million	($9.98)	-0.48
Acacia Research	$285.23 million	1.56	$21.68 million	($0.15)	-30.30

Acacia Research has higher revenue and earnings than DeFi Development. Acacia Research is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DeFi Development, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

DeFi Development has a beta of -3.75, suggesting that its stock price is 475% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acacia Research has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for DeFi Development and Acacia Research, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DeFi Development	0	1	1	0	2.50
Acacia Research	1	0	1	0	2.00

DeFi Development presently has a consensus target price of $10.40, indicating a potential upside of 118.72%. Acacia Research has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.01%. Given DeFi Development’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe DeFi Development is more favorable than Acacia Research.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.5% of DeFi Development shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Acacia Research shares are held by institutional investors. 23.6% of DeFi Development shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Acacia Research shares are held by company 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.

Summary

DeFi Development beats Acacia Research on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DeFi Development

We are a B2B fintech marketplace connecting commercial property borrowers and lenders with a human touch. We seek to revolutionize the commercial real estate lending market by making it hyper-efficient, transparent, and accessible to all rather than the few. Through our online platform, we provide technology that connects commercial mortgage borrowers looking for capital to refinance, build, or purchase commercial property, including, but not limited to, apartment buildings, to commercial property lenders. Borrowers include, but are not limited to, owners, operators, and developers of commercial real estate including multifamily properties and most recently, a growing segment of small business owners, which we believe represents a significant growth opportunity. Lenders include small banks, credit unions, REITs, Fannie Mae® and Freddie Mac® multifamily lenders, FHA® multifamily lenders, debt funds, CMBS lenders, SBA lenders, and more. We have developed a flexible, two-sided, B2B marketplace that connects commercial borrowers and lenders, with a human touch. Commercial property owners, operators, and developers can quickly create an account on our platform, set up their own profile, and submit and manage loan requests on their dashboard in a digital experience. Our algorithms automatically match borrowers to their best loan options or to our internal capital markets advisors that guide the borrower throughout the process and connect them with a potentially suitable loan product and lender. Originators that work at commercial mortgage lenders can access their accounts on our platform to view, sort, and communicate with their matched borrowers in real-time, tracking their loan progress through our portal. Capital markets advisors that work internally have their own interface that gives them access to targeted loan opportunities empowering them to better assist borrowers in managing their choices, leading to the best possible outcomes for both lenders and borrowers while building trust, all of which is intended to enhance our brand. We believe that as we scale, we can use the same technology to provide similar services across the commercial property and small business value chain. Our mission is to remove frictions from traditional commercial property financing, making it easier and more cost-effective for all parties in the transaction. We intend to disintermediate commercial real estate financing, flattening the playing field for commercial property owners and developers, and lenders of all sizes, democratizing an otherwise fractured and elitist market. We were originally formed as Janover Ventures LLC, a Florida limited liability company, on November 28, 2018, and converted to Janover Inc., a Delaware corporation, on March 9, 2021. We are headquartered at 6401 Congress Avenue, Suite 250, Boca Raton, Florida.

About Acacia Research

Acacia is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ACTG) company that is focused on acquiring and operating businesses across the industrial, energy and technology sectors where it believes it can leverage its expertise, significant capital base, and deep industry relationships to drive value. Acacia evaluates opportunities based on the attractiveness of the underlying cash flows, without regard to a specific investment horizon. Acacia operates its businesses based on three key principles of people, process, and performance and has built a management team with demonstrated expertise in research, transactions and execution, and operations and management.