Capital Southwest (CSWC) Competitors

Gladstone Investment (NASDAQ:GAIN) and Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, risk and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GAIN or CSWC?

Gladstone Investment received 127 more outperform votes than Capital Southwest when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.02% of users gave Capital Southwest an outperform vote while only 61.47% of users gave Gladstone Investment an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Gladstone Investment	Outperform Votes 367 61.47%	Underperform Votes 230 38.53%
Capital Southwest	Outperform Votes 240 62.02%	Underperform Votes 147 37.98%

Is GAIN or CSWC more profitable?

Gladstone Investment has a net margin of 97.71% compared to Gladstone Investment's net margin of 46.81%. Gladstone Investment's return on equity of 16.38% beat Capital Southwest's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gladstone Investment	97.71%	7.33%	3.77%
Capital Southwest	46.81%	16.38%	7.89%

Which has more risk and volatility, GAIN or CSWC?

Gladstone Investment has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital Southwest has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in GAIN or CSWC?

11.9% of Gladstone Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.4% of Capital Southwest shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Gladstone Investment shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Capital Southwest shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to GAIN or CSWC?

In the previous week, Capital Southwest had 20 more articles in the media than Gladstone Investment. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Capital Southwest and 3 mentions for Gladstone Investment. Gladstone Investment's average media sentiment score of 0.55 beat Capital Southwest's score of 0.00 indicating that Capital Southwest is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Gladstone Investment	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Capital Southwest	6 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, GAIN or CSWC?

Gladstone Investment has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Capital Southwest. Gladstone Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capital Southwest, 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
Gladstone Investment	$87.31M	5.93	$85.31M	$2.48	5.69
Capital Southwest	$178.13M	6.32	$33.09M	$2.05	12.78

Do analysts prefer GAIN or CSWC?

Gladstone Investment currently has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.85%. Capital Southwest has a consensus price target of $25.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.67%. Given Capital Southwest's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gladstone Investment is more favorable than Capital Southwest.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gladstone Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Capital Southwest	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is GAIN or CSWC a better dividend stock?

Gladstone Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Capital Southwest pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Gladstone Investment pays out 38.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital Southwest pays out 111.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gladstone Investment has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Capital Southwest has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Capital Southwest beats Gladstone Investment on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.