Critical Contrast: Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE:BLX) and Oxford Square Capital (NASDAQ:OXSQ)

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE:BLX) and Oxford Square Capital (NASDAQ:OXSQ) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior pays an annual dividend of $2.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Oxford Square Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 32.1%. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior pays out 45.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oxford Square Capital pays out -93.3% 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. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Oxford Square Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

19.5% of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.4% of Oxford Square Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Oxford Square Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Oxford Square Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	27.77%	13.77%	1.75%
Oxford Square Capital	-93.65%	14.41%	6.81%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Oxford Square Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	0	0	0	1	4.00
Oxford Square Capital	1	0	0	0	1.00

Volatility and Risk

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oxford Square Capital has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Oxford Square Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	$836.85 million	2.43	$226.88 million	$6.06	9.02
Oxford Square Capital	-$32.67 million	-4.32	-$18.73 million	($0.45)	-2.91

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior has higher revenue and earnings than Oxford Square Capital. Oxford Square Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior beats Oxford Square Capital on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A., a multinational bank, primarily engages in the financing of foreign trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Treasury. It offers bilateral loans; structured loans including syndicated and clubbed, such as acquisition and pre-export financing, A/B loan financing, bridge loans, and liability management; and project financing. The company also provides letter of credit comprising import and export letters of credit, and credit discounting and financing, as well as usance payable at sight; stand-by services; bank guarantees, including first demand and local guarantees; import and export documentary collection; irrevocable reimbursement undertaking; and canal tolls. In addition, it offers liquidity and investment solutions, such as time deposits, DDA accounts, Yankee certificate of deposits, and EMTN private placement services, as well as supply chain finance services. The company primarily serves financial institutions, corporations, and sovereigns and state-owned entities. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A.was formerly known as Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones, S.A. and changed its name to Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. in June 2009. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Panama City, the Republic of Panama.

About Oxford Square Capital

Oxford Square Capital Corp. is a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. It is a private equity and mezzanine firm. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, common stock and syndicated bank loans. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. Oxford Square Capital Corp., formerly known as TICC Capital Corp., was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.