Analyzing Bimini Capital Management (OTCMKTS:BMNM) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA)

Bimini Capital Management (OTCMKTS:BMNM) and MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Bimini Capital Management has a beta of 0.11, meaning that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MFA Financial has a beta of 1.64, meaning that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Bimini Capital Management and MFA Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bimini Capital Management	0	0	0	0	0.00
MFA Financial	0	4	4	0	2.50

MFA Financial has a consensus target price of $12.07, suggesting a potential upside of 19.58%. Given MFA Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MFA Financial is more favorable than Bimini Capital Management.

Profitability

This table compares Bimini Capital Management and MFA Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bimini Capital Management	-4.70%	-8.69%	-0.44%
MFA Financial	17.62%	8.61%	1.39%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bimini Capital Management and MFA Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bimini Capital Management	$11.90 million	1.04	-$1.31 million	($0.06)	-20.42
MFA Financial	$723.97 million	1.43	$119.25 million	$0.87	11.60

MFA Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Bimini Capital Management. Bimini Capital Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MFA Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.3% of MFA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Bimini Capital Management shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of MFA Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

MFA Financial beats Bimini Capital Management on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bimini Capital Management

Bimini Capital Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty finance company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Asset Management and Investment Portfolio. The Asset Management segment includes investment advisory services by Bimini Advisors to Orchid Island Capital, Inc. and Royal Palm Capital, LLC. The Investment Portfolio segment engages in investment activities conducted by Royal Palm Capital, LLC. It invests in residential mortgage-backed securities. The company was formerly known as Opteum Inc. and changed its name to Bimini Capital Management, Inc. in September 2007. Bimini Capital Management, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is based in Vero Beach, Florida.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.