Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends and media sentiment.

Do analysts rate ARCC or TSLX?

Ares Capital currently has a consensus target price of $22.86, suggesting a potential upside of 1.68%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a consensus target price of $23.06, suggesting a potential downside of 3.00%. Given Ares Capital's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Sixth Street Specialty Lending.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has better earnings and valuation, ARCC or TSLX?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Sixth Street Specialty Lending. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sixth Street Specialty Lending, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.30	$1.52B	$2.05	10.97
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	$482.53M	4.64	$220.02M	$2.01	11.83

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in ARCC or TSLX?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor ARCC or TSLX?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 7 more articles in the media than Sixth Street Specialty Lending. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for Ares Capital and 26 mentions for Sixth Street Specialty Lending. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Ares Capital's score of 0.88 indicating that Sixth Street Specialty Lending is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	16 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, ARCC or TSLX?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ARCC or TSLX a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. 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. Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays out 91.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is ARCC or TSLX more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Sixth Street Specialty Lending's net margin of 39.56%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's return on equity of 13.47% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	39.56%	13.47%	6.17%

Summary

Sixth Street Specialty Lending beats Ares Capital on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.