PennantPark Investment (PNNT) Competitors

PennantPark Investment (NASDAQ:PNNT) 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 earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Is PNNT or ARCC more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 43.50% compared to PennantPark Investment's net margin of 11.33%. PennantPark Investment's return on equity of 11.59% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PennantPark Investment	11.33%	11.59%	4.23%
Ares Capital	43.50%	11.05%	5.25%

Does the media refer more to PNNT or ARCC?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 12 more articles in the media than PennantPark Investment. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Ares Capital and 2 mentions for PennantPark Investment. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat PennantPark Investment's score of 0.41 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PennantPark Investment	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ares Capital	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PNNT or ARCC a better dividend stock?

PennantPark Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.5%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. PennantPark Investment pays out 640.0% 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. PennantPark Investment has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. PennantPark Investment is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate PNNT or ARCC?

PennantPark Investment presently has a consensus target price of $5.88, suggesting a potential downside of 17.43%. Ares Capital has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.42%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than PennantPark Investment.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PennantPark Investment	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has more volatility and risk, PNNT or ARCC?

PennantPark Investment has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

26.6% of PennantPark Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of PennantPark Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, PNNT or ARCC?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than PennantPark Investment. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PennantPark Investment, 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
PennantPark Investment	$56.93M	8.16	$48.85M	$0.15	47.43
Ares Capital	$1.49B	10.63	$1.52B	$2.05	11.11

Summary

Ares Capital beats PennantPark Investment on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.