HTGC vs. ARCC, OCSL, PFLT, BCSF, FSK, GSBD, MAIN, TPVG, TSLX, and FSV
Should you be buying Hercules Capital stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Hercules Capital include Ares Capital (ARCC), Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL), PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT), Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF), FS KKR Capital (FSK), Goldman Sachs BDC (GSBD), Main Street Capital (MAIN), TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (TPVG), Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX), and FirstService (FSV). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Hercules Capital vs. Its Competitors
Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) 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 analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.
In the previous week, Ares Capital had 12 more articles in the media than Hercules Capital. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Ares Capital and 3 mentions for Hercules Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Hercules Capital's score of 1.13 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Hercules Capital has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% 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.
Hercules Capital has a net margin of 51.46% compared to Ares Capital's net margin of 44.94%. Hercules Capital's return on equity of 16.54% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.
Hercules Capital currently has a consensus target price of $20.58, suggesting a potential upside of 6.18%. Ares Capital has a consensus target price of $22.86, suggesting a potential upside of 2.61%. Given Hercules Capital's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Hercules Capital is more favorable than Ares Capital.
19.7% of Hercules Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Hercules 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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Hercules Capital. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hercules Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Hercules Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Hercules Capital pays out 106.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. Hercules Capital has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ares Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Ares Capital beats Hercules Capital on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding HTGC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Hercules Capital Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:HTGC) was last updated on 8/28/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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