Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in TSLX or ARCC?

70.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend TSLX or ARCC?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending currently has a consensus price target of $23.28, indicating a potential downside of 3.03%. Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 1.81%. Given Ares Capital's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Sixth Street Specialty Lending.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Is TSLX or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 44.94% compared to Sixth Street Specialty Lending's net margin of 39.56%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending's return on equity of 13.47% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	39.56%	13.47%	6.17%
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%

Does the media favor TSLX or ARCC?

In the previous week, Sixth Street Specialty Lending had 4 more articles in the media than Ares Capital. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Sixth Street Specialty Lending and 24 mentions for Ares Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Sixth Street Specialty Lending's score of 1.03 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Capital	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, TSLX or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Sixth Street Specialty Lending. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sixth Street 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
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	$482.53M	4.69	$220.02M	$2.01	11.94
Ares Capital	$2.99B	5.30	$1.52B	$2.05	10.95

Is TSLX or ARCC a better dividend stock?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays out 91.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, TSLX or ARCC?

Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sixth Street Specialty Lending beats Ares Capital on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.