Cohen & Steers (CNS) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital received 180 more outperform votes than Cohen & Steers when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.63% of users gave Ares Capital an outperform vote while only 54.82% of users gave Cohen & Steers an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ares Capital	Outperform Votes 419 62.63%	Underperform Votes 250 37.37%
Cohen & Steers	Outperform Votes 239 54.82%	Underperform Votes 197 45.18%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ARCC or CNS?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.5% of Cohen & Steers shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 47.6% of Cohen & Steers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital presently has a consensus target price of $22.14, indicating a potential upside of 8.86%. Cohen & Steers has a consensus target price of $90.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.20%. Given Cohen & Steers' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cohen & Steers is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Cohen & Steers	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is ARCC or CNS more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 50.90% compared to Cohen & Steers' net margin of 29.24%. Cohen & Steers' return on equity of 33.13% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	50.90%	11.54%	5.50%
Cohen & Steers	29.24%	33.13%	20.43%

Does the media prefer ARCC or CNS?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 27 more articles in the media than Cohen & Steers. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Ares Capital and 14 mentions for Cohen & Steers. Cohen & Steers' average media sentiment score of 0.82 beat Ares Capital's score of 0.41 indicating that Cohen & Steers is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	13 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Cohen & Steers	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cohen & Steers has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ARCC or CNS a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Cohen & Steers pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Ares Capital pays out 78.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers pays out 81.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Ares Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Cohen & Steers. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cohen & Steers, 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	$1.71B	8.15	$1.52B	$2.45	8.30
Cohen & Steers	$553.52M	7.07	$151.26M	$3.06	25.09

Summary

Ares Capital beats Cohen & Steers on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.