Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (BXSL) Competitors

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) and Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts recommend BXSL or ARCC?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund currently has a consensus price target of $31.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.71%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $22.86, suggesting a potential upside of 2.68%. Given Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Is BXSL or ARCC a better dividend stock?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 108.5% 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 BXSL or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's net margin of 44.25%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's return on equity of 12.07% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	44.25%	12.07%	5.48%
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%

Does the media favor BXSL or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 11 more articles in the media than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Ares Capital and 4 mentions for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's score of 0.54 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	0 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, BXSL or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund 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
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.33B	5.18	$694.10M	$2.84	10.51
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.25	$1.52B	$2.05	10.86

Do insiders & institutionals believe in BXSL or ARCC?

36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, BXSL or ARCC?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Blackstone Secured Lending Fund on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.