Saratoga Investment (SAR) Competitors

Central Securities (NYSE:CET) and Saratoga Investment (NYSE:SAR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and community ranking.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CET or SAR?

8.7% of Central Securities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.1% of Saratoga Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Central Securities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Saratoga Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better valuation and earnings, CET or SAR?

Saratoga Investment has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Central Securities.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Securities	$296.20M	4.50	N/A	N/A	N/A
Saratoga Investment	$42.10M	8.94	$8.93M	$2.04	12.01

Does the media prefer CET or SAR?

In the previous week, Saratoga Investment had 2 more articles in the media than Central Securities. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Saratoga Investment and 1 mentions for Central Securities. Central Securities' average media sentiment score of 1.89 beat Saratoga Investment's score of 1.05 indicating that Central Securities is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Central Securities	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Saratoga Investment	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CET or SAR a better dividend stock?

Central Securities pays an annual dividend of $2.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Saratoga Investment pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.2%. Saratoga Investment pays out 147.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CET or SAR?

Saratoga Investment received 269 more outperform votes than Central Securities when rated by MarketBeat users.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Central Securities	N/A	N/A
Saratoga Investment	Outperform Votes 269 57.48%	Underperform Votes 199 42.52%

Which has more volatility and risk, CET or SAR?

Central Securities has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saratoga Investment has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer CET or SAR?

Saratoga Investment has a consensus price target of $24.58, indicating a potential upside of 0.34%. Given Saratoga Investment's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Saratoga Investment is more favorable than Central Securities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Securities	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Saratoga Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Is CET or SAR more profitable?

Saratoga Investment has a net margin of 22.01% compared to Central Securities' net margin of 0.00%. Saratoga Investment's return on equity of 15.53% beat Central Securities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Securities	N/A	N/A	N/A
Saratoga Investment	22.01%	15.53%	4.80%

Summary

Saratoga Investment beats Central Securities on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.