Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL – Get Free Report) and Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by 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.
Dividends
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.0%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 161.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ares Capital pays out 117.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Blackstone Secured Lending Fund | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2.33 |
| Ares Capital | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2.73 |
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund presently has a consensus price target of $24.88, suggesting a potential upside of 4.88%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $20.65, suggesting a potential upside of 10.90%. Given Ares Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.
Volatility and Risk
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Ares Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Blackstone Secured Lending Fund | 31.63% | 11.73% | 5.12% |
| Ares Capital | 37.30% | 9.85% | 4.59% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Ares Capital”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Blackstone Secured Lending Fund | $1.42 billion | 3.89 | $563.46 million | $1.91 | 12.42 |
| Ares Capital | $3.05 billion | 4.38 | $1.30 billion | $1.63 | 11.42 |
Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Ares Capital beats Blackstone Secured Lending Fund on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). In addition, the Fund elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a regulated investment company (RIC), as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The fund also intends to continue to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code in order to maintain tax treatment as a RIC. The fund's investment objectives are to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily through originated loans, equity and other securities, including syndicated loans, of private U.S. companies, specifically small and middle market companies, typically in the form of first lien senior secured and unitranche loans (including first out/last out loans), and to a lesser extent, second lien, third lien, unsecured and subordinated loans and other debt and equity securities.
About Ares Capital
Ares Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in acquisition, recapitalization, mezzanine debt, restructurings, rescue financing, and leveraged buyout transactions of middle market companies. It also makes growth capital and general refinancing. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the basic and growth manufacturing, business services, consumer products, health care products and services, and information technology service sectors. The fund will also consider investments in industries such as restaurants, retail, oil and gas, and technology sectors. It focuses on investments in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions from its New York office, the Midwest region, from the Chicago office, and the Western region from the Los Angeles office. The fund typically invests between $20 million and $200 million and a maximum of $400 million in companies with an EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million. It makes debt investments between $10 million and $100 million The fund invests through revolvers, first lien loans, warrants, unitranche structures, second lien loans, mezzanine debt, private high yield, junior capital, subordinated debt, and non-control preferred and common equity. The fund also selectively considers third-party-led senior and subordinated debt financings and opportunistically considers the purchase of stressed and discounted debt positions. The fund prefers to be an agent and/or lead the transactions in which it invests. The fund also seeks board representation in its portfolio companies.
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