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 better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk and volatility, PFLT or ARCC?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer PFLT or ARCC?

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital currently has a consensus target price of $10.92, suggesting a potential upside of 0.85%. Ares Capital has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.76%. Given PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's higher possible upside, 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)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has stronger 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	$84.09M	12.77	$91.84M	$0.90	12.03
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.31	$1.52B	$2.05	11.15

Does the media favor PFLT or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 23 more articles in the media than PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Ares Capital and 2 mentions for PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's score of -0.82 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PennantPark Floating Rate Capital	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Ares Capital	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 11.4%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. PennantPark Floating Rate Capital pays out 136.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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 institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PFLT or ARCC?

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

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 43.50%. Ares Capital's return on equity of 11.05% beat PennantPark Floating Rate 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	43.50%	11.05%	5.25%

Summary

Ares Capital beats PennantPark Floating Rate Capital on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.