Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) versus Atlantic International (NASDAQ:CIRC) Critical Analysis

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) and Atlantic International (NASDAQ:CIRC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Navient has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic International has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.1% of Navient shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.8% of Navient shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Atlantic International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Navient and Atlantic International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navient	4	5	0	0	1.56
Atlantic International	1	1	0	1	2.33

Navient currently has a consensus price target of $9.14, suggesting a potential downside of 3.86%. Given Navient’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Navient is more favorable than Atlantic International.

Profitability

This table compares Navient and Atlantic International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navient	-1.64%	4.68%	0.23%
Atlantic International	-19.39%	N/A	-28.58%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Navient and Atlantic International”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navient	$3.20 billion	0.28	-$80.00 million	($0.50)	-19.02
Atlantic International	$799.87 million	0.05	-$59.43 million	($2.11)	-0.22

Atlantic International has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Navient. Navient is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Navient pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Atlantic International pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 41.6%. Navient pays out -128.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic International pays out -9.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Navient beats Atlantic International on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Navient

Navient Corporation provides technology-enabled education finance and business processing solutions for education, health care, and government clients in the United States. It operates through three segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, and Business Processing. The company owns Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans that are insured or guaranteed by state or not-for-profit agencies; and performs servicing on its portfolios, as well as federal education loans held by other institutions. It also owns, originates, and services refinance and in-school private education loans; and offers business processing solutions, such as omnichannel contact center, workflow processing, and revenue cycle optimization services to federal agencies, state governments, tolling and parking authorities, other public sector clients, as well as hospitals, hospital systems, medical centers, large physician groups, other healthcare providers, and public health departments. In addition, the company provides corporate liquidity portfolio services. Navient Corporation was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

About Atlantic International

Atlantic International Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates as a staffing company servicing the commercial, professional, finance, direct placement, and managed service provider verticals. The company specializes in permanent, temporary, and temporary-to-permanent placement services in various areas, including accounting and finance, administrative and clerical, hospitality, information technology, legal, light industrial, and medical fields. It also provides productivity consulting and workforce management solutions. Atlantic International Corp. was founded in 2018 and is based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.