Comparing TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) & Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC)

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) and Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

12.8% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.1% of Barings Bdc shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Barings Bdc shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Barings Bdc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	46.77%	11.54%	4.97%
Barings Bdc	32.45%	10.08%	4.33%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Barings Bdc, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	2	4	0	0	1.67
Barings Bdc	0	3	1	0	2.25

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC currently has a consensus target price of $5.63, suggesting a potential upside of 2.18%. Barings Bdc has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 12.49%. Given Barings Bdc’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Barings Bdc is more favorable than TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC.

Volatility and Risk

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Bdc has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Barings Bdc”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	$90.93 million	2.46	$49.21 million	$1.06	5.19
Barings Bdc	$279.21 million	3.17	$101.92 million	$0.85	9.94

Barings Bdc has higher revenue and earnings than TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Barings Bdc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.7%. Barings Bdc pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.3%. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays out 86.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Barings Bdc pays out 122.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Barings Bdc has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Barings Bdc beats TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. is a business development company specializing investments in venture capital-backed companies at the growth stage investments. It also provides debt financing to venture growth space companies which includes growth capital loans, secured and customized loans, equipment financings, revolving loans and direct equity investments. The fund seeks to invest in e-commerce, entertainment, technology and life sciences sector. Within technology the areas of focus include: Security, wireless communication equipments, network system and software, business applications software, conferencing equipments/services .big data, cloud computing, data storage, electronics, energy efficiency, hardware, information services, internet and media, networking, semiconductors, software, software as a service, and other technology related subsectors and within life sciences the areas of focus include: biotechnology, bio fuels/bio mass, diagnostic testing and bioinformatics, drug delivery, drug discovery, healthcare information systems, healthcare services, medical, surgical and therapeutic devices, pharmaceuticals and other life science related subsectors. Within growth capital loans it invests between $5 million and $50 million, for equipment financings it invests between $5 million and $25 million, for revolving loans it invests between $1 million and $25 million, and for direct equity investments it may invest between $0.1 million and $5 million (generally not exceeding 5% of the company’s total equity). The debt financing products are typically structured as lines of credit and it invests through warrants and secured loans. It targeted returns between 10% and 18%. It does not take board seat in the company.

About Barings Bdc

Barings BDC, Inc. is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. It seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans, first lien debt, unitranche, second lien debt, subordinated debt, equity co-investments and senior secured private debt investments in private middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries. It specializes in mezzanine, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, ESOPs, change of control transactions, acquisition financings, growth financing, and recapitalizations in lower middle market, mature, and later stage companies. It invests in manufacturing and distribution; business services and technology; transportation and logistics; consumer product and services. It invests in United States. It invests in companies with EBITDA of $10 million to $75 million, typically in private equity sponsor backed.