Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) & Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OBDC) Critical Comparison

Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) and Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OBDC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Acadian Asset Management and Blue Owl Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acadian Asset Management	15.17%	189.32%	21.26%
Blue Owl Capital	16.99%	9.49%	4.19%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.7% of Acadian Asset Management shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.8% of Blue Owl Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.6% of Acadian Asset Management shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Blue Owl Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Acadian Asset Management has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blue Owl Capital has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Acadian Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Blue Owl Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Acadian Asset Management pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Blue Owl Capital pays out 14.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Blue Owl Capital has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Blue Owl Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Acadian Asset Management and Blue Owl Capital”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acadian Asset Management	$563.70 million	5.75	$80.00 million	$2.83	32.30
Blue Owl Capital	$1.85 billion	2.92	$800.36 million	$0.56	19.56

Blue Owl Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Acadian Asset Management. Blue Owl Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadian Asset Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Acadian Asset Management and Blue Owl Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acadian Asset Management	0	4	1	0	2.20
Blue Owl Capital	0	3	4	1	2.75

Acadian Asset Management currently has a consensus price target of $81.67, indicating a potential downside of 10.65%. Blue Owl Capital has a consensus price target of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.67%. Given Blue Owl Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Blue Owl Capital is more favorable than Acadian Asset Management.

About Acadian Asset Management

Acadian Asset Management Inc. is a publically owned asset management holding company. The firm provides its services to individuals and institutions. It manages separate client focused portfolios through its subsidiaries. The firm also launches equity mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1980 is based Boston, Massachusetts. It was formally known as BrightSphere Investment Group plc. BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. was formed in 1980 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Blue Owl Capital

Blue Owl Capital Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in direct and fund of fund investments. The fund makes investments in senior secured, direct lending or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and also considers equity-related securities including warrants and preferred stocks also pursues preferred equity investments, first lien, unitranche, and second lien term loans and common equity investments. Within private equity, it seeks to invest in growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, refinancings and recapitalizations. It seeks to invest in middle market and upper middle market companies based in the United States, with EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million annually and/or annual revenue of $50 million and $2.5 billion at the time of investment. It seeks to invest in investments with maturities typically between three and ten years. It seeks to make investments generally ranging in size between $20 million and $250 million.