Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) versus CION Investment (NYSE:CION) Head to Head Review

Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) and CION Investment (NYSE:CION) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.4% of Rigetti Computing shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of CION Investment shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Rigetti Computing shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of CION Investment shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Rigetti Computing and CION Investment, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rigetti Computing	0	0	3	0	3.00
CION Investment	0	2	0	0	2.00

Rigetti Computing currently has a consensus target price of $3.17, suggesting a potential upside of 168.36%. CION Investment has a consensus target price of $11.13, suggesting a potential upside of 0.95%. Given Rigetti Computing’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Rigetti Computing is more favorable than CION Investment.

Volatility and Risk

Rigetti Computing has a beta of 2.43, meaning that its stock price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CION Investment has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Rigetti Computing and CION Investment’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rigetti Computing	$12.01 million	15.61	-$75.11 million	($0.58)	-2.03
CION Investment	$251.01 million	2.36	$95.31 million	$1.76	6.26

CION Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Rigetti Computing. Rigetti Computing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CION Investment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Rigetti Computing and CION Investment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rigetti Computing	-625.42%	-59.51%	-41.47%
CION Investment	37.97%	12.33%	5.54%

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing, Inc., through its subsidiaries, builds quantum computers and the superconducting quantum processors. The company offers cloud in a form of quantum processing unit, such as 9-qubit chip and Ankaa-2 system under the Novera brand name; and sells access to its quantum computers through quantum computing as a service. It also provides quantum cloud services that provides various range of support in programming, public or private clouds integration, and connectivity, as well as quantum operating system software that supports both public and private cloud architectures. In addition, the company offers professional services, such as algorithm development, benchmarking, quantum application programming, and software development. The company serves commercial enterprises, government organizations, and international government entities. It has operations in the United States and the United Kingdom. Rigetti Computing, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.

About CION Investment

CION Investment Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in investments in senior secured loans, including unitranche loans, First Lien, second lien loans, long-term subordinated loans, and mezzanine loans; equity interests such as warrants or options; and corporate bonds; and other debt securities in middle-market companies. The firm invests in growth capital, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, market/product expansion, refinancing and recapitalization. The fund also invests up to 30 percent of their assets opportunistically in other types of investments, including the securities of larger public companies and foreign securities. It also makes investments in the secondary loan market. The fund does not invest in start-up companies, turnaround situations, or companies with speculative business plans. The fund prefers to invest in high tech industries, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, business services, media, chemicals, plastic, rubber, telecommunication, consumer services, advertising, printing and publishing, consumer goods, durables, diversified financials, and other industries. It also invests in homebuilding, restaurants, beverage and tobacco bars, broadcasting, distributors, Non-durable good distribution, food beverage and tobacco, energy, oil gas and consumables fuels, insurance, aerospace and defense, industrial machinery, paper and forest product machinery, information technology, metals and mining, and real estate. It primarily seeks to invest in the United States. The fund seeks to invest between $5 million and $50 million in companies with an EBITDA between $25 million and $75 million with average targeted hold of $25 million. It also purchases minority interests in the form of common or preferred equity in the target companies, typically in conjunction with its debt investments or through a co-investment with a financial sponsor. The fund seeks to exit its investments through an initial public offering of common stock, a merger, a sale, or other recapitalization.