Comparing Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) and Argo Blockchain (NASDAQ:ARBK)

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ:REFI) and Argo Blockchain (NASDAQ:ARBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Argo Blockchain, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	0	2	0	1	2.67
Argo Blockchain	1	1	0	0	1.50

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.57%. Given Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance is more favorable than Argo Blockchain.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.4% of Argo Blockchain shares are held by institutional investors. 8.3% of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Argo Blockchain’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	65.01%	11.94%	8.59%
Argo Blockchain	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance and Argo Blockchain”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance	$55.39 million	4.60	$36.01 million	$1.68	7.15
Argo Blockchain	$15.52 million	0.07	-$55.10 million	($117.39)	-0.03

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Argo Blockchain. Argo Blockchain is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Argo Blockchain has a beta of 1.82, indicating that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance beats Argo Blockchain on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance

Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. operates as a commercial real estate finance company in the United States. The company engages in originating, structuring, and investing in first mortgage loans and alternative structured financings secured by commercial real estate properties. Its portfolio primarily includes offers senior loans to state-licensed operators in the cannabis industry. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Argo Blockchain

Argo Blockchain plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mining business worldwide. It engages in mining purpose-built computers for complex cryptographic algorithms. The company was formerly known as GoSun Blockchain Limited and changed its name to Argo Blockchain plc in December 2017. Argo Blockchain plc was incorporated in 2017 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.