Contrasting Baltic International USA (OTCMKTS:BISA) & Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Baltic International USA (OTCMKTS:BISA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.4% of Baltic International USA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ares Capital and Baltic International USA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0	2	7	0	2.78
Baltic International USA	0	0	0	0	0.00

Ares Capital currently has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.71%. Given Ares Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Baltic International USA.

Profitability

This table compares Ares Capital and Baltic International USA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	42.56%	9.89%	4.66%
Baltic International USA	N/A	N/A	-806.45%

Volatility & Risk

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Baltic International USA has a beta of -1.17, meaning that its stock price is 217% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ares Capital and Baltic International USA”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ares Capital	$3.05 billion	4.40	$1.30 billion	$1.86	10.05
Baltic International USA	N/A	N/A	-$30,000.00	($0.01)	-0.03

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Baltic International USA. Baltic International USA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Baltic International USA on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in acquisition, recapitalization, mezzanine debt, restructurings, rescue financing, and leveraged buyout transactions of middle market companies. It also makes growth capital and general refinancing. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the basic and growth manufacturing, business services, consumer products, health care products and services, and information technology service sectors. The fund will also consider investments in industries such as restaurants, retail, oil and gas, and technology sectors. It focuses on investments in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions from its New York office, the Midwest region, from the Chicago office, and the Western region from the Los Angeles office. The fund typically invests between $20 million and $200 million and a maximum of $400 million in companies with an EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million. It makes debt investments between $10 million and $100 million The fund invests through revolvers, first lien loans, warrants, unitranche structures, second lien loans, mezzanine debt, private high yield, junior capital, subordinated debt, and non-control preferred and common equity. The fund also selectively considers third-party-led senior and subordinated debt financings and opportunistically considers the purchase of stressed and discounted debt positions. The fund prefers to be an agent and/or lead the transactions in which it invests. The fund also seeks board representation in its portfolio companies.

About Baltic International USA

Baltic International USA, Inc. does not have significant operations. It intends to investigate and acquire a target company or business seeking to become a publicly held corporation. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Houston, Texas.