Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) vs. Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund (NYSE:NCA) Head-To-Head Review

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund (NYSE:NCA) and Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Horizon Technology Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.4%. Horizon Technology Finance pays out -1,100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

21.5% of Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.9% of Horizon Technology Finance shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Horizon Technology Finance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund and Horizon Technology Finance, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
Horizon Technology Finance	2	4	0	0	1.67

Horizon Technology Finance has a consensus price target of $9.35, indicating a potential upside of 1.74%. Given Horizon Technology Finance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Horizon Technology Finance is more favorable than Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund.

Profitability

This table compares Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund and Horizon Technology Finance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Horizon Technology Finance	-3.69%	15.78%	6.58%

Risk and Volatility

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Horizon Technology Finance has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund and Horizon Technology Finance”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund	$17.68 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Horizon Technology Finance	$4.21 million	86.98	-$17.18 million	($0.12)	-76.58

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund has higher revenue and earnings than Horizon Technology Finance.

Summary

Horizon Technology Finance beats Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of California. The fund invests primarily in municipal securities rated Baa/BBB or better. It invests in securities that provide income exempt from federal and California income tax. The fund employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P California Municipal Bond Index and the S&P National Municipal Bond Index. Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund was formed on October 7, 1987 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Horizon Technology Finance

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation is a business development company specializing in lending and and investing in development-stage investments. It focuses on making secured debt and venture lending investments to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, cleantech and sustainability industries. It seeks to invest in companies in the United States.