Chicago Atlantic BDC (LIEN) & Its Rivals Head-To-Head Review

Chicago Atlantic BDC (NASDAQ:LIEN) is one of 1,746 publicly-traded companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Chicago Atlantic BDC to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Chicago Atlantic BDC has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chicago Atlantic BDC’s peers have a beta of 0.79, meaning that their average share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Chicago Atlantic BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.0%. Chicago Atlantic BDC pays out 97.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 29.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Chicago Atlantic BDC and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chicago Atlantic BDC	52.82%	11.66%	10.21%
Chicago Atlantic BDC Competitors	314.66%	9.82%	3.42%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

4.4% of Chicago Atlantic BDC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.6% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by institutional investors. 12.9% of Chicago Atlantic BDC shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.1% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chicago Atlantic BDC and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chicago Atlantic BDC	$54.30 million	$33.28 million	6.51
Chicago Atlantic BDC Competitors	$2.39 billion	$398.05 million	14.96

Chicago Atlantic BDC’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Chicago Atlantic BDC. Chicago Atlantic BDC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Chicago Atlantic BDC and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chicago Atlantic BDC	0	1	0	0	2.00
Chicago Atlantic BDC Competitors	5615	20215	22568	650	2.37

As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 23.43%. Given Chicago Atlantic BDC’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chicago Atlantic BDC has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Chicago Atlantic BDC peers beat Chicago Atlantic BDC on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About Chicago Atlantic BDC

Chicago Atlantic BDC, Inc. is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market businesses. It is externally managed by an affiliate of Chicago Atlantic, an alternative investment manager focused on private credit. The company primarily invests in debt issued by U.S. cannabis businesses and companies that support the cannabis industry. Its financing can include secured loans and other credit investments tailored to borrowers’ business needs. Chicago Atlantic BDC operates in a sector where many businesses have limited access to traditional banking services.