Barings Bdc (BBDC) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation and earnings, ARCC or BBDC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Bdc. Barings Bdc 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
Ares Capital	$1.50B	9.89	$1.52B	$2.05	10.27
Barings Bdc	$112.89M	8.48	$110.29M	$0.96	9.48

Which has more volatility and risk, ARCC or BBDC?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Bdc has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ARCC or BBDC?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.1% of Barings Bdc shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Barings Bdc shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ARCC or BBDC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Barings Bdc's net margin of 35.67%. Ares Capital's return on equity of 10.48% beat Barings Bdc's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%
Barings Bdc	35.67%	9.76%	4.26%

Does the media favor ARCC or BBDC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 19 more articles in the media than Barings Bdc. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Ares Capital and 2 mentions for Barings Bdc. Barings Bdc's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat Ares Capital's score of 1.03 indicating that Barings Bdc 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)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Barings Bdc	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts rate ARCC or BBDC?

Ares Capital presently has a consensus target price of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 8.56%. Barings Bdc has a consensus target price of $9.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.17%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Barings Bdc.

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
Barings Bdc	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is ARCC or BBDC a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.1%. Barings Bdc pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. 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. Barings Bdc pays out 108.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Barings Bdc has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Barings Bdc is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Barings Bdc on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.