Goldman Sachs BDC (NYSE:GSBD) vs. Putnam Premier Income Trust (NYSE:PPT) Head-To-Head Comparison

Goldman Sachs BDC (NYSE:GSBD) and Putnam Premier Income Trust (NYSE:PPT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Goldman Sachs BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.6%. Putnam Premier Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.2%. Goldman Sachs BDC pays out 284.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Goldman Sachs BDC and Putnam Premier Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Goldman Sachs BDC	17.01%	15.72%	7.08%
Putnam Premier Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.7% of Goldman Sachs BDC shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.8% of Putnam Premier Income Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Goldman Sachs BDC shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Goldman Sachs BDC and Putnam Premier Income Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Goldman Sachs BDC	$67.93 million	19.00	$195.87 million	$0.45	24.46
Putnam Premier Income Trust	$22.60 million	15.27	N/A	N/A	N/A

Goldman Sachs BDC has higher revenue and earnings than Putnam Premier Income Trust.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Goldman Sachs BDC and Putnam Premier Income Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Goldman Sachs BDC	1	1	0	0	1.50
Putnam Premier Income Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Goldman Sachs BDC currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.04%. Given Goldman Sachs BDC’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Goldman Sachs BDC is more favorable than Putnam Premier Income Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Goldman Sachs BDC has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Putnam Premier Income Trust has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Goldman Sachs BDC beats Putnam Premier Income Trust on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Goldman Sachs BDC

Goldman Sachs BDC, Inc. is a business development company specializing in middle market and mezzanine investment in private companies. It seeks to make capital appreciation through direct originations of secured debt, senior secured debt, junior secured debt, including first lien, first lien/last-out unitranche and second lien debt, unsecured debt, including mezzanine debt and, to a lesser extent, investments in equities. The fund primarily invests in United States. It seeks to invest between $10 million and $75 million in companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $75 million annually.

About Putnam Premier Income Trust

Putnam Premier Income Trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Putnam Investment Management, LLC. The fund is co-managed by Putnam Investments Limited. It invests in the public fixed income markets across the globe. The fund primarily invests in U.S. high-grade and high-yield bonds with an average credit quality of BBB by S&P Corporation. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Barclays Capital Government Bond Index. Putnam Premier Income Trust was formed on February 29, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.