Carlyle Secured Lending (CGBD) Competitors

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

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 11.7%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Carlyle Secured Lending pays out 118.5% 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.

Do analysts recommend CGBD or ARCC?

Carlyle Secured Lending presently has a consensus target price of $15.25, indicating a potential upside of 11.31%. Ares Capital has a consensus target price of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 2.09%. Given Carlyle Secured Lending's higher probable upside, equities 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

Does the media favor CGBD or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 47 more articles in the media than Carlyle Secured Lending. MarketBeat recorded 50 mentions for Ares Capital and 3 mentions for Carlyle Secured Lending. Carlyle Secured Lending's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Ares Capital's score of 0.88 indicating that Carlyle Secured Lending is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Carlyle Secured Lending	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	25 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CGBD or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Carlyle Secured Lending's net margin of 32.72%. Carlyle Secured Lending's return on equity of 10.49% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carlyle Secured Lending	32.72%	10.49%	4.88%
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%

Which has more volatility and risk, CGBD or ARCC?

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

Which has better valuation & earnings, CGBD or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Carlyle Secured Lending. Carlyle Secured Lending is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares Capital, 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	3.00	$88.98M	$1.35	10.15
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.28	$1.52B	$2.05	10.92

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CGBD or ARCC?

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

Summary

Ares Capital beats Carlyle Secured Lending on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.