Fidus Investment (FDUS) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PSEC or FDUS?

Prospect Capital received 33 more outperform votes than Fidus Investment when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.72% of users gave Fidus Investment an outperform vote while only 51.62% of users gave Prospect Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prospect Capital	Outperform Votes 319 51.62%	Underperform Votes 299 48.38%
Fidus Investment	Outperform Votes 286 60.72%	Underperform Votes 185 39.28%

Do analysts prefer PSEC or FDUS?

Prospect Capital presently has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 21.95%. Fidus Investment has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.00%. Given Prospect Capital's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prospect Capital is more favorable than Fidus Investment.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prospect Capital	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00
Fidus Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to PSEC or FDUS?

In the previous week, Fidus Investment had 3 more articles in the media than Prospect Capital. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Fidus Investment and 7 mentions for Prospect Capital. Prospect Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.86 beat Fidus Investment's score of 0.89 indicating that Prospect Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prospect Capital	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Fidus Investment	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PSEC or FDUS?

9.1% of Prospect Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.1% of Fidus Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.3% of Prospect Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Fidus Investment shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, PSEC or FDUS?

Prospect Capital has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fidus Investment has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, PSEC or FDUS?

Prospect Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Fidus Investment. Prospect Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fidus Investment, 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
Prospect Capital	$101.04M	16.28	$262.83M	-$0.20	-18.45
Fidus Investment	$91.39M	7.31	$77.13M	$2.41	7.98

Is PSEC or FDUS more profitable?

Fidus Investment has a net margin of 60.09% compared to Prospect Capital's net margin of 1.18%. Prospect Capital's return on equity of 12.31% beat Fidus Investment's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prospect Capital	1.18%	12.31%	5.79%
Fidus Investment	60.09%	12.11%	6.75%

Is PSEC or FDUS a better dividend stock?

Prospect Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.6%. Fidus Investment pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.9%. Prospect Capital pays out -270.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fidus Investment pays out 71.4% 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. Prospect Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Prospect Capital beats Fidus Investment on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.