Reviewing Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) & Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) and Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Carlyle Secured Lending”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.33 billion	4.58	$694.10 million	$2.66	9.88
Carlyle Secured Lending	$232.59 million	2.73	$88.98 million	$1.18	10.56

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has higher revenue and earnings than Carlyle Secured Lending. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carlyle Secured Lending, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.5% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.7%. Carlyle Secured Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.8%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 115.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Carlyle Secured Lending pays out 135.6% 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 Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Carlyle Secured Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	42.38%	11.85%	5.32%
Carlyle Secured Lending	30.18%	9.24%	4.29%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Carlyle Secured Lending, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	1	2	6	0	2.56
Carlyle Secured Lending	1	6	2	0	2.11

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund presently has a consensus target price of $29.13, suggesting a potential upside of 10.85%. Carlyle Secured Lending has a consensus target price of $14.33, suggesting a potential upside of 15.03%. Given Carlyle Secured Lending’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Carlyle Secured Lending is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.

Volatility and Risk

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carlyle Secured Lending has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund beats Carlyle Secured Lending on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). In addition, the Fund elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a regulated investment company (RIC), as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The fund also intends to continue to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code in order to maintain tax treatment as a RIC. The fund's investment objectives are to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily through originated loans, equity and other securities, including syndicated loans, of private U.S. companies, specifically small and middle market companies, typically in the form of first lien senior secured and unitranche loans (including first out/last out loans), and to a lesser extent, second lien, third lien, unsecured and subordinated loans and other debt and equity securities.

About Carlyle Secured Lending

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. is business development company specializing in first lien debt, senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loan unsecured debt, mezzanine debt and investments in equities. It specializes in directly investing. It specializes in middle market. It targets healthcare and pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, high tech industries, business services, software, beverage food and tobacco, hotel gamming and leisure, banking finance insurance and in real estate sector. The fund seeks to invest across United States of America, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, and United Kingdom. It invests in companies with EBITDA between $25 million and $100 million.