Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is ARCC or OCSL more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 43.50% compared to Oaktree Specialty Lending's net margin of 2.55%. Oaktree Specialty Lending's return on equity of 11.77% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	43.50%	11.05%	5.25%
Oaktree Specialty Lending	2.55%	11.77%	5.48%

Do analysts prefer ARCC or OCSL?

Ares Capital presently has a consensus target price of $22.21, indicating a potential downside of 3.67%. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a consensus target price of $15.83, indicating a potential upside of 8.37%. Given Oaktree Specialty Lending's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Oaktree Specialty Lending is more favorable than Ares Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Oaktree Specialty Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ARCC or OCSL?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Oaktree Specialty Lending. Ares Capital 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
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.35	$1.52B	$2.05	11.25
Oaktree Specialty Lending	$381.67M	3.37	$57.90M	$0.13	112.38

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

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ARCC or OCSL?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oaktree Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor ARCC or OCSL?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 25 more articles in the media than Oaktree Specialty Lending. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for Ares Capital and 5 mentions for Oaktree Specialty Lending. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Oaktree Specialty Lending's score of 1.04 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	18 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Oaktree Specialty Lending	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ARCC or OCSL a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.0%. Ares Capital pays out 93.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays out 1,230.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Oaktree Specialty Lending on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.