PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, ARCC or PFLT?

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
Ares Capital	$1.50B	10.47	$1.52B	$2.05	10.88
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	$89.89M	11.23	$91.84M	$0.84	12.11

Which has more risk and volatility, ARCC or PFLT?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer ARCC or PFLT?

Ares Capital currently has a consensus price target of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 2.50%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a consensus price target of $10.88, indicating a potential upside of 6.89%. Given PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PennantPark Floating Rate Capital is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Is ARCC or PFLT 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
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	45.36%	10.76%	4.65%

Is ARCC or PFLT a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.1%. 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. 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.

Does the media favor ARCC or PFLT?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 18 more articles in the media than PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Ares Capital and 2 mentions for PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Ares Capital's score of 1.13 indicating that PennantPark Floating Rate Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.8% of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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