Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF) Competitors

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) and Bain Capital Specialty Finance (NYSE:BCSF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Do analysts prefer CGBD or BCSF?

Carlyle Secured Lending presently has a consensus target price of $15.10, indicating a potential upside of 7.93%. Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 6.83%. Given Carlyle Secured Lending's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Carlyle Secured Lending is more favorable than Bain Capital Specialty Finance.

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
Bain Capital Specialty Finance	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more volatility & risk, CGBD or BCSF?

Carlyle Secured Lending has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, CGBD or BCSF?

Bain Capital Specialty Finance has higher revenue and earnings than Carlyle Secured Lending. Bain Capital Specialty Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carlyle Secured Lending, 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	3.07	$88.98M	$1.20	11.66
Bain Capital Specialty Finance	$292.65M	3.42	$119.42M	$1.66	9.30

Do insiders & institutionals believe in CGBD or BCSF?

24.5% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Bain Capital Specialty Finance shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer CGBD or BCSF?

In the previous week, Carlyle Secured Lending had 3 more articles in the media than Bain Capital Specialty Finance. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Carlyle Secured Lending and 4 mentions for Bain Capital Specialty Finance. Bain Capital Specialty Finance's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Carlyle Secured Lending's score of 1.14 indicating that Bain Capital Specialty Finance is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Carlyle Secured Lending	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bain Capital Specialty Finance	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CGBD or BCSF a better dividend stock?

Carlyle Secured Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. Bain Capital Specialty Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.9%. Carlyle Secured Lending pays out 133.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Bain Capital Specialty Finance pays out 101.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Bain Capital Specialty Finance has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Is CGBD or BCSF more profitable?

Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a net margin of 37.90% compared to Carlyle Secured Lending's net margin of 29.71%. Bain Capital Specialty Finance's return on equity of 11.41% beat Carlyle Secured Lending's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carlyle Secured Lending	29.71%	9.85%	4.59%
Bain Capital Specialty Finance	37.90%	11.41%	4.92%

Summary

Bain Capital Specialty Finance beats Carlyle Secured Lending on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.