Digital media company Vinco Ventures (NASDAQ:BBIG) announced at the end of May that it would delay the spin-off of its Cryptyde subsidiary until the end of June. BBIG stock fell 12% on the news. 

The only other piece of news out of the company in recent days is the 13G filed by unknown Five Narrow Lane on May 27. According to Vinco’s latest proxy, the 13G said the investment firm owns 9.7% of Vinco’s stock, making it the second-largest shareholder behind Hudson Bay Capital Management, which owns just less than 10%, according to Vinco’s latest proxy. 

InvestorPlace’s Muslim Farooque believes that BBIG is one of the seven best Reddit stocks to buy in June. I have said Vinco is nothing more than an exercise in paper shuffling. The fact that it’s spinning off Cryptyde when crypto and NFTs are sucking fumes only confirms my theory. 

I would suggest that almost any similarly-sized business is a better choice than Vinco Ventures.

An Overlooked Fintech Platform

I’m not suggesting that MoneyLion (NYSE:ML) is in the same league as SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI). Its $429 million market cap is about 1/17 as large, while its trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue of $207.7 million can’t hold a candle to SoFi’s TTM revenue of $1.1 billion. However, it’s considerably higher than Vinco’s TTM revenue of $46 million [annualized from Q1 2022 results].    

A quick look at its shareholder composition, and you know this is a much better cast of characters than the likes of Five Narrow Lane. For example, Edison Partners owns 13.8% of its stock. Edison has invested in 253 financial services businesses, generating 209 exits. I’d say they know a thing or two about quality.

In mid-May, MoneyLion re-affirmed 2022 revenue guidance of $330 million at the midpoint of this outlook. It also expects to exit 2022 with breakeven adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Since Q2 2020, it’s grown its total customers by 290%, from 1.0 million to 3.9 million at the end of Q1 2022. 

This is a much better bet than BBIG.  

A Better Buy for Risk-Averse Investors

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is growing like gangbusters. According to Statistics Canada, its downtown is growing faster than any other city in Canada. Its downtown population grew 26.1% between 2016 and 2021. 

One of the ways you can tell Halifax is booming is by the number of cranes around town. Many cranes are affixed with the Potain name, a crane business Manitowoc Company (NYSE:MTW) acquired in May 2001 for $307 million.      

The Wisconsin-based company’s been in business since 1902. It’s been helping businesses move and lift stuff for more than 120 years. In 2021, after five years of fixing what ailed it, the company began its next growth phase. It wants to grow its Tower crane rental and aftermarket business in Europe, grow its business in China, continues to innovate when it comes to all-terrain cranes, and expand its North American aftermarket business. 

In early May, Manitowoc reported 29.6% sales growth year-over-year and 50.2% adjusted EBITDA growth. At the end of March, its backlog was $1.03 billion, 2.2% higher than at the end of December.

Analysts aren’t too fond of it, but it’s trading at just 12.7x its 2023 earnings per share estimate of $1.06. That’s considerably less than its five-year average of 35.1.  

It might not be sexy, but it won’t keep you up at night like Vinco’s bound to do.

You’ve Got Options Other Than BBIG Stock

I could write an entirely different article discussing the digital marketing businesses that compete with and are superior to Vinco, but I’ll leave that for another day. 

I continue to be perplexed why any serious investor would spend more than a minute on BBIG stock. It is evident that Vinco Ventures is throwing everything but the kitchen sink against the wall to see what sticks. 

There are so many better options out there. I’ve highlighted just two, but the screen I used to find them – market cap between $400 and $500 million with estimated annual revenue growth of 10% or more over the next two years – came up with 82 names.

You can do much better than BBIG.

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On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.