Saratoga Investment (SAR) Competitors

Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) and Barings BDC (NYSE:BBDC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, community ranking, risk and valuation.

Which has more risk & volatility, SAR or BBDC?

Saratoga Investment has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings BDC has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, SAR or BBDC?

Barings BDC has higher revenue and earnings than Saratoga Investment. Barings BDC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Saratoga Investment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saratoga Investment	$143.72M	2.32	$8.93M	$0.71	34.21
Barings BDC	$289.20M	3.59	$128M	$1.23	7.98

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SAR or BBDC?

Saratoga Investment received 161 more outperform votes than Barings BDC when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.19% of users gave Barings BDC an outperform vote while only 58.02% of users gave Saratoga Investment an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Saratoga Investment	Outperform Votes 264 58.02%	Underperform Votes 191 41.98%
Barings BDC	Outperform Votes 103 58.19%	Underperform Votes 74 41.81%

Is SAR or BBDC a better dividend stock?

Saratoga Investment pays an annual dividend of $2.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.0%. Barings BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.6%. Saratoga Investment pays out 411.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Barings BDC pays out 84.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the media refer more to SAR or BBDC?

In the previous week, Barings BDC had 6 more articles in the media than Saratoga Investment. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Barings BDC and 2 mentions for Saratoga Investment. Saratoga Investment's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Barings BDC's score of 0.84 indicating that Saratoga Investment is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Saratoga Investment	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Barings BDC	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SAR or BBDC more profitable?

Barings BDC has a net margin of 45.35% compared to Saratoga Investment's net margin of 6.22%. Saratoga Investment's return on equity of 14.53% beat Barings BDC's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saratoga Investment	6.22%	14.53%	4.45%
Barings BDC	45.35%	10.77%	4.78%

Do analysts rate SAR or BBDC?

Saratoga Investment currently has a consensus price target of $25.69, indicating a potential upside of 5.75%. Barings BDC has a consensus price target of $9.58, indicating a potential downside of 2.31%. Given Saratoga Investment's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Saratoga Investment is more favorable than Barings BDC.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saratoga Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Barings BDC	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SAR or BBDC?

19.1% of Saratoga Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.1% of Barings BDC shares are held by institutional investors. 13.2% of Saratoga Investment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Barings BDC shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Barings BDC beats Saratoga Investment on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.