HTGC vs. ARCC, MFIC, OCSL, PFLT, 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), MidCap Financial Investment (MFIC), Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL), PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT), 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
Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.
Ares Capital has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hercules Capital has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
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.
In the previous week, Ares Capital had 7 more articles in the media than Hercules Capital. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Ares Capital and 10 mentions for Hercules Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Hercules Capital's score of 0.01 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.
27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.7% of Hercules Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Hercules Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Hercules Capital has a net margin of 45.23% compared to Ares Capital's net margin of 43.50%. Hercules Capital's return on equity of 16.84% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.
Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Hercules Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. 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 pays out 120.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hercules Capital has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Hercules Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Ares Capital presently has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.31%. Hercules Capital has a consensus price target of $19.92, suggesting a potential upside of 7.37%. Given Hercules Capital's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hercules Capital is more favorable than Ares Capital.
Summary
Ares Capital and Hercules Capital tied by winning 10 of the 20 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.
Skip ChartMedia 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.
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Hercules Capital Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:HTGC) was last updated on 7/9/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff