Horizon Technology Finance (HRZN) Competitors

Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) and Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Do analysts recommend HRZN or OCSL?

Horizon Technology Finance currently has a consensus price target of $9.56, indicating a potential upside of 1.51%. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a consensus price target of $16.75, indicating a potential upside of 8.06%. Given Oaktree Specialty Lending's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Oaktree Specialty Lending is more favorable than Horizon Technology Finance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Horizon Technology Finance	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75
Oaktree Specialty Lending	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86

Does the media favor HRZN or OCSL?

In the previous week, Horizon Technology Finance had 1 more articles in the media than Oaktree Specialty Lending. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Horizon Technology Finance and 8 mentions for Oaktree Specialty Lending. Oaktree Specialty Lending's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Horizon Technology Finance's score of 0.62 indicating that Oaktree Specialty Lending is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Horizon Technology Finance	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Oaktree Specialty Lending	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HRZN or OCSL?

Oaktree Specialty Lending received 199 more outperform votes than Horizon Technology Finance when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.39% of users gave Oaktree Specialty Lending an outperform vote while only 53.98% of users gave Horizon Technology Finance an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Horizon Technology Finance	Outperform Votes 285 53.98%	Underperform Votes 243 46.02%
Oaktree Specialty Lending	Outperform Votes 484 59.39%	Underperform Votes 331 40.61%

Is HRZN or OCSL a better dividend stock?

Horizon Technology Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.0%. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Horizon Technology Finance pays out -1,100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays out 238.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Horizon Technology Finance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in HRZN or OCSL?

4.9% of Horizon Technology Finance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Horizon Technology Finance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, HRZN or OCSL?

Horizon Technology Finance has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oaktree Specialty Lending has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HRZN or OCSL more profitable?

Oaktree Specialty Lending has a net margin of 14.75% compared to Horizon Technology Finance's net margin of -3.69%. Horizon Technology Finance's return on equity of 15.78% beat Oaktree Specialty Lending's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Horizon Technology Finance	-3.69%	15.78%	6.58%
Oaktree Specialty Lending	14.75%	12.07%	5.57%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, HRZN or OCSL?

Oaktree Specialty Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Horizon Technology Finance. Horizon Technology Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Oaktree Specialty Lending, 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
Horizon Technology Finance	$1.69M	225.11	-$17.18M	-$0.12	-78.50
Oaktree Specialty Lending	$48.88M	26.08	$57.90M	$0.67	23.13

Summary

Oaktree Specialty Lending beats Horizon Technology Finance on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.