PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT) Competitors

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

Is PFLT or ARCC a better dividend stock?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.9%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.5%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital pays out 146.4% 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.

Is PFLT or ARCC more profitable?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a net margin of 45.36% compared to Ares Capital's net margin of 44.94%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's return on equity of 10.76% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	45.36%	10.76%	4.65%
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%

Which has more risk and volatility, PFLT or ARCC?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor PFLT or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 2 more articles in the media than PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Ares Capital and 8 mentions for PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Ares Capital's score of 0.41 indicating that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer PFLT or ARCC?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital presently has a consensus price target of $10.88, suggesting a potential upside of 22.67%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $22.86, suggesting a potential upside of 13.43%. Given PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe PennantPark Floating Rate Capital is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, PFLT or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PennantPark Floating Rate 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
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	$89.89M	9.78	$91.84M	$0.84	10.55
Ares Capital	$1.50B	9.46	$1.52B	$2.05	9.83

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PFLT or ARCC?

19.8% of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ares Capital beats PennantPark Floating Rate Capital on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.