Contrasting Perella Weinberg Partners (NASDAQ:PWP) and Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL)

Perella Weinberg Partners (NASDAQ:PWP) and Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Perella Weinberg Partners and Oaktree Specialty Lending, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Perella Weinberg Partners	1	1	2	0	2.25
Oaktree Specialty Lending	0	5	0	0	2.00

Perella Weinberg Partners presently has a consensus price target of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 30.99%. Oaktree Specialty Lending has a consensus price target of $11.83, suggesting a potential downside of 2.28%. Given Perella Weinberg Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Perella Weinberg Partners is more favorable than Oaktree Specialty Lending.

Dividends

Perella Weinberg Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.2%. Perella Weinberg Partners pays out 116.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays out 280.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Perella Weinberg Partners and Oaktree Specialty Lending”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Perella Weinberg Partners	$750.90 million	2.22	$35.48 million	$0.24	74.75
Oaktree Specialty Lending	$316.80 million	3.37	$33.92 million	$0.57	21.25

Perella Weinberg Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Oaktree Specialty Lending. Oaktree Specialty Lending is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Perella Weinberg Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Perella Weinberg Partners and Oaktree Specialty Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Perella Weinberg Partners	2.82%	-19.90%	6.78%
Oaktree Specialty Lending	16.66%	9.56%	4.60%

Volatility and Risk

Perella Weinberg Partners has a beta of 1.74, indicating that its stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oaktree Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.1% of Perella Weinberg Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are held by institutional investors. 26.1% of Perella Weinberg Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Perella Weinberg Partners beats Oaktree Specialty Lending on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Perella Weinberg Partners

Perella Weinberg Partners, an independent investment banking company, provides strategic and financial advice services in the United States and internationally. The company offers advisory services related to strategic and financial decisions, mergers and acquisition execution, shareholder and defense advisory, and financing and capital solutions advice with resources focused on restructuring, liability management, and capital markets advisory, as well as underwriting and research services primarily for the energy and related industries. It serves public multinational corporations, mid-sized public and private companies, financial sponsors, individual entrepreneurs, private and institutional investors, creditor committees, and government institutions in consumer and retail; energy and energy transition; financial services and FinTech; healthcare; industrials and infrastructure; and technology, telecommunication, and media industries. Perella Weinberg Partners is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Oaktree Specialty Lending

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation is a business development company. The fund specializing in investments in middle market, bridge financing, first and second lien debt financing, unsecured and mezzanine loan, mezzanine debt, senior and junior secured debt, expansions, sponsor-led acquisitions, preferred equity, and management buyouts in small and mid-sized companies. It seeks to invest in education services, business services, retail and consumer, healthcare, manufacturing, food and restaurants, construction and engineering. The firm also seeks investment in media, advertising sectors, software, IT services, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, real estate management and development, chemicals, machinery, and internet and direct marketing retail sectors. It invests between $5 million to $75 million principally in the form of one-stop, first lien, and second lien debt investments, which may include an equity co-investment component in companies. The firm invest in companies having enterprise value between $20 million and $150 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $50 million. The fund has a hold size of up to $75 million and may underwrite transactions up to $100 million. It primarily invests in North America. The fund seeks to be a lead investor in its portfolio companies.