Gladstone Capital (GLAD) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders believe in GLAD or PSEC?

10.7% of Gladstone Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.1% of Prospect Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Gladstone Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.3% of Prospect Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer GLAD or PSEC?

Prospect Capital received 51 more outperform votes than Gladstone Capital when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.36% of users gave Gladstone Capital an outperform vote while only 51.79% of users gave Prospect Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Gladstone Capital	Outperform Votes 268 54.36%	Underperform Votes 225 45.64%
Prospect Capital	Outperform Votes 319 51.79%	Underperform Votes 297 48.21%

Which has more volatility and risk, GLAD or PSEC?

Gladstone Capital has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prospect Capital has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to GLAD or PSEC?

In the previous week, Prospect Capital had 5 more articles in the media than Gladstone Capital. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Prospect Capital and 1 mentions for Gladstone Capital. Gladstone Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Prospect Capital's score of 0.46 indicating that Gladstone Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Gladstone Capital	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Prospect Capital	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer GLAD or PSEC?

Gladstone Capital presently has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential downside of 7.87%. Prospect Capital has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 19.21%. Given Prospect Capital's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Prospect Capital is more favorable than Gladstone Capital.

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

Is GLAD or PSEC a better dividend stock?

Gladstone Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Prospect Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.3%. Gladstone Capital pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prospect Capital pays out -270.0% 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.

Is GLAD or PSEC more profitable?

Gladstone Capital has a net margin of 106.59% compared to Prospect Capital's net margin of 1.18%. Prospect Capital's return on equity of 12.31% beat Gladstone Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gladstone Capital	106.59%	10.00%	5.66%
Prospect Capital	1.18%	12.31%	5.79%

Which has better valuation & earnings, GLAD or PSEC?

Prospect Capital has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Gladstone Capital. Prospect Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gladstone Capital, 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 Capital	$105.41M	5.29	$94.72M	$4.09	6.10
Prospect Capital	$101.04M	16.65	$262.83M	-$0.20	-18.88

Summary

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