Head to Head Survey: Portman Ridge Finance (BCIC) and The Competition

Portman Ridge Finance (NASDAQ:BCIC) is one of 1,753 publicly-traded companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Portman Ridge Finance to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Portman Ridge Finance and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Portman Ridge Finance	2.10%	13.87%	5.37%
Portman Ridge Finance Competitors	2,629.30%	9.87%	3.67%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Portman Ridge Finance and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Portman Ridge Finance	1	3	0	0	1.75
Portman Ridge Finance Competitors	5226	19557	21886	603	2.38

Portman Ridge Finance currently has a consensus price target of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.84%. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 20.38%. Given Portman Ridge Finance’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Portman Ridge Finance has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

30.1% of Portman Ridge Finance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Portman Ridge Finance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Portman Ridge Finance has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Portman Ridge Finance’s competitors have a beta of 0.80, indicating that their average share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Portman Ridge Finance and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Portman Ridge Finance	$61.15 million	$11.49 million	-31.29
Portman Ridge Finance Competitors	$28.47 billion	$396.21 million	20.10

Portman Ridge Finance’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Portman Ridge Finance. Portman Ridge Finance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Portman Ridge Finance pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.4%. Portman Ridge Finance pays out -450.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 28.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Portman Ridge Finance is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Portman Ridge Finance competitors beat Portman Ridge Finance on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Portman Ridge Finance Company Profile

Portman Ridge Finance Corporation is a business development company specializing in investments in unitranche loans (including last out), first lien loans, second lien loans, subordinated debt, equity co-investment, buyout in middle market companies. It also makes acquisitions in businesses complementary to the firm’s business. It primarily invests in healthcare, cargo transport, manufacturing, industrial & environmental services, logistics & distribution, media & telecommunications, real estate, education, automotive, agriculture, aerospace/defense, packaging, electronics, finance, non-durable consumer, consumer products, business services, utilities, insurance, and food and beverage sectors. The fund typically invests $1 million to $20 million in its portfolio companies. It provides senior secured term loans from $2 million to $20 million maturing in five to seven years; second lien term loans from $5 million to $15 million maturing in six to eight years; senior unsecured loans $5 million to $23 million maturing in six to eight years; mezzanine loans from $5 million to $15 million maturing in seven to ten years; and equity investments from $1 to $5 million. The fund targets the companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $25 million. While investing in debt securities, it invests in those middle market firms with EBITDA between $10 million and $50 million and/or total debt between $25 million and $150 million. It invests in minority, and majority or control equity positions alongside its private equity sponsor partners.