NCDL vs. HTGC, TSLX, MSDL, GSBD, NMFC, KBDC, BCSF, BBDC, AMAL, and TRIN
Should you be buying Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending include Hercules Capital (HTGC), Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX), Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL), Goldman Sachs BDC (GSBD), New Mountain Finance (NMFC), Kayne Anderson BDC (KBDC), Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF), Barings Bdc (BBDC), Amalgamated Financial (AMAL), and Trinity Capital (TRIN). These companies are all part of the "fin - sbic&commrl" industry.
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending vs. Its Competitors
Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.
Hercules Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending 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 has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Hercules Capital currently has a consensus price target of $19.92, suggesting a potential upside of 7.43%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus price target of $16.31, suggesting a potential downside of 2.14%. Given Hercules Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Hercules Capital is more favorable than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending.
In the previous week, Hercules Capital had 10 more articles in the media than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Hercules Capital and 3 mentions for Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. Hercules Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.19 beat Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending's score of -0.24 indicating that Hercules Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Hercules Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.8%. 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. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays out 96.3% 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 raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
19.7% of Hercules Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Hercules Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Hercules Capital has a net margin of 45.23% compared to Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending's net margin of 44.83%. Hercules Capital's return on equity of 16.84% beat Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending's return on equity.
Summary
Hercules Capital beats Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending on 16 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 NCDL 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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This page (NYSE:NCDL) was last updated on 7/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff