Cohen & Steers (CNS) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, community ranking, media sentiment, dividends and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital received 178 more outperform votes than Cohen & Steers when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.56% of users gave Ares Capital an outperform vote while only 54.71% of users gave Cohen & Steers an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ares Capital	Outperform Votes 416 62.56%	Underperform Votes 249 37.44%
Cohen & Steers	Outperform Votes 238 54.71%	Underperform Votes 197 45.29%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of ARCC or CNS?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.5% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 47.6% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cohen & Steers has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ARCC or CNS more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 50.90% compared to Cohen & Steers' net margin of 29.24%. Cohen & Steers' return on equity of 33.13% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	50.90%	11.54%	5.50%
Cohen & Steers	29.24%	33.13%	20.43%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Cohen & Steers. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cohen & Steers, 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	$1.71B	9.13	$1.52B	$2.45	9.48
Cohen & Steers	$536.76M	8.10	$151.26M	$2.97	28.74

Does the media prefer ARCC or CNS?

In the previous week, Cohen & Steers had 10 more articles in the media than Ares Capital. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Cohen & Steers and 12 mentions for Ares Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Cohen & Steers' score of 0.63 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	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Cohen & Steers	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer ARCC or CNS?

Ares Capital presently has a consensus price target of $22.94, indicating a potential downside of 1.26%. Cohen & Steers has a consensus price target of $106.50, indicating a potential upside of 24.78%. Given Cohen & Steers' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cohen & Steers 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)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
Cohen & Steers	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is ARCC or CNS a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Cohen & Steers pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Ares Capital pays out 78.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers pays out 83.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Ares Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Cohen & Steers on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.