Saratoga Investment (SAR) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer SAR or CET?

Saratoga Investment currently has a consensus target price of $24.25, suggesting a potential downside of 2.28%. Given Saratoga Investment's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Saratoga Investment is more favorable than Central Securities.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saratoga Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Central Securities	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SAR or CET?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saratoga Investment	$49.06M	7.93	$28.09M	$2.47	10.05
Central Securities	$296.20M	4.70	N/A	N/A	N/A

Is SAR or CET more profitable?

Saratoga Investment has a net margin of 24.85% compared to Central Securities' net margin of 0.00%. Saratoga Investment's return on equity of 12.71% beat Central Securities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saratoga Investment	24.85%	12.71%	4.04%
Central Securities	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do insiders and institutionals believe in SAR or CET?

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

Does the media refer more to SAR or CET?

In the previous week, Saratoga Investment had 22 more articles in the media than Central Securities. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Saratoga Investment and 1 mentions for Central Securities. Central Securities' average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat Saratoga Investment's score of 0.14 indicating that Central Securities is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Saratoga Investment	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Central Securities	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, SAR or CET?

Saratoga Investment has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Securities has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SAR or CET a better dividend stock?

Saratoga Investment pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.1%. Central Securities pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Saratoga Investment pays out 121.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Saratoga Investment beats Central Securities on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.