Carlyle Secured Lending (CGBD) Competitors

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) and Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Is CGBD or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Carlyle Secured Lending's net margin of 29.71%. Ares Capital's return on equity of 10.48% beat Carlyle Secured Lending's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carlyle Secured Lending	29.71%	9.85%	4.59%
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%

Does the media prefer CGBD or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 6 more articles in the media than Carlyle Secured Lending. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Ares Capital and 8 mentions for Carlyle Secured Lending. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Carlyle Secured Lending's score of 1.14 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Carlyle Secured Lending	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CGBD or ARCC a better dividend stock?

Carlyle Secured Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Carlyle Secured Lending pays out 133.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ares Capital pays out 93.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, CGBD or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Carlyle Secured Lending. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carlyle Secured Lending, 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
Carlyle Secured Lending	$232.59M	3.07	$88.98M	$1.20	11.66
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.27	$1.52B	$2.05	10.89

Do analysts prefer CGBD or ARCC?

Carlyle Secured Lending currently has a consensus price target of $15.10, suggesting a potential upside of 7.93%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $22.86, suggesting a potential upside of 2.41%. Given Carlyle Secured Lending's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Carlyle Secured Lending is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Carlyle Secured Lending	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has more volatility & risk, CGBD or ARCC?

Carlyle Secured Lending has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in CGBD or ARCC?

24.5% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Carlyle Secured Lending on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.