Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, TSLX or ARCC?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is TSLX or ARCC a better dividend stock?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays out 97.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. Ares Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer TSLX or ARCC?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending presently has a consensus price target of $22.81, indicating a potential downside of 6.72%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.30%. Given Ares Capital's higher possible 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
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Is TSLX or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 43.50% compared to Sixth Street Specialty Lending's net margin of 36.59%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's return on equity of 13.60% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	36.59%	13.60%	6.22%
Ares Capital	43.50%	11.05%	5.25%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of TSLX or ARCC?

70.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor TSLX or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 22 more articles in the media than Sixth Street Specialty Lending. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Ares Capital and 4 mentions for Sixth Street Specialty Lending. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Sixth Street Specialty Lending's score of 0.99 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, TSLX or ARCC?

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
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	$236.90M	9.70	$220.02M	$1.89	12.94
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.28	$1.52B	$2.05	11.10

Summary

Sixth Street Specialty Lending and Ares Capital tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.