Capital Southwest (CSWC) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, CSWC or GAIN?

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

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of CSWC or GAIN?

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

Does the media refer more to CSWC or GAIN?

In the previous week, Capital Southwest had 21 more articles in the media than Gladstone Investment. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Capital Southwest and 2 mentions for Gladstone Investment. Capital Southwest's average media sentiment score of 0.51 beat Gladstone Investment's score of 0.00 indicating that Capital Southwest is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
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
Gladstone Investment	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CSWC or GAIN?

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

Is CSWC or GAIN a better dividend stock?

Capital Southwest pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Gladstone Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. 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 pays out 38.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Is CSWC or GAIN more profitable?

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

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

Do analysts rate CSWC or GAIN?

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

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

Which has better earnings & valuation, CSWC or GAIN?

Gladstone Investment has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Capital Southwest	$178.13M	6.32	$33.09M	$2.05	12.78
Gladstone Investment	$87.31M	5.93	$85.31M	$2.48	5.69

Summary

Capital Southwest beats Gladstone Investment on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.