Ares Capital (ARCC) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Does the media refer more to ARCC or BEN?

In the previous week, Franklin Resources had 2 more articles in the media than Ares Capital. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Franklin Resources and 8 mentions for Ares Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Franklin Resources' score of 0.34 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Franklin Resources	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is ARCC or BEN a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Ares Capital pays out 65.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Resources pays out 70.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ares Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better valuation & earnings, ARCC or BEN?

Ares Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Franklin Resources. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Franklin Resources, 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	$2.61B	4.95	$1.52B	$2.92	7.29
Franklin Resources	$7.85B	1.63	$882.80M	$1.75	13.87

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ARCC or BEN?

Franklin Resources received 42 more outperform votes than Ares Capital when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.50% of users gave Ares Capital an outperform vote while only 40.78% of users gave Franklin Resources an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ares Capital	Outperform Votes 405 62.50%	Underperform Votes 243 37.50%
Franklin Resources	Outperform Votes 447 40.78%	Underperform Votes 649 59.22%

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

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ares Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.1% of Franklin Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ARCC or BEN more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 62.77% compared to Franklin Resources' net margin of 11.09%. Ares Capital's return on equity of 12.37% beat Franklin Resources' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	62.77%	12.37%	5.87%
Franklin Resources	11.09%	10.82%	4.51%

Which has more risk & volatility, ARCC or BEN?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend ARCC or BEN?

Ares Capital currently has a consensus target price of $21.43, suggesting a potential upside of 0.70%. Franklin Resources has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.08%. Given Franklin Resources' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Resources is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Franklin Resources	3 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.63

Summary

Ares Capital beats Franklin Resources on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.