Head to Head Review: Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) & XP (NASDAQ:XP)

Oaktree Specialty Lending (NASDAQ:OCSL) and XP (NASDAQ:XP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Oaktree Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, XP has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oaktree Specialty Lending	16.66%	9.56%	4.60%
XP	27.40%	22.51%	1.34%

Dividends

Oaktree Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. XP pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Oaktree Specialty Lending pays out 210.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. XP pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Oaktree Specialty Lending and XP, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oaktree Specialty Lending	0	5	0	0	2.00
XP	0	2	3	0	2.60

Oaktree Specialty Lending currently has a consensus price target of $11.83, indicating a potential upside of 1.31%. XP has a consensus price target of $23.33, indicating a potential upside of 39.80%. Given XP’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe XP is more favorable than Oaktree Specialty Lending.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.8% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.2% of XP shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Oaktree Specialty Lending shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Oaktree Specialty Lending and XP”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oaktree Specialty Lending	$55.37 million	18.58	$33.92 million	$0.57	20.49
XP	$8.25 billion	1.09	$925.91 million	$1.81	9.22

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

Summary

XP beats Oaktree Specialty Lending on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About XP

XP Inc. provides financial products and services in Brazil. It offers securities brokerage, private pension plans, commercial, and investment banking products, such as loan operations and transactions in the foreign exchange markets and deposits; product structuring and capital markets services for corporate clients and issuers of fixed income products; advisory services for mass-affluent and institutional clients; and wealth management services for high-net-worth customers and institutional clients. The company also offers XP Educação, an online financial education portal that offers seminars, classes, and learning tools to help teach individuals on topics, such as basics of investing, techniques, and investment strategies, as well as insurance brokerage services. In addition, it operates XP Platform, an open product platform that provides clients to access investment products in the market, including equity and fixed income securities, mutual and hedge funds, structured products, life insurance, pension plans, real-estate investment funds, and others. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in São Paulo, Brazil.