Critical Survey: Gabelli Multimedia Trust (NYSE:GGT) & Barings Bdc (NYSE:BBDC)

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Barings Bdc and Gabelli Multimedia Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Bdc	$279.21 million	3.45	$101.92 million	$0.85	10.83
Gabelli Multimedia Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Barings Bdc has higher revenue and earnings than Gabelli Multimedia Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Bdc and Gabelli Multimedia Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Bdc	32.73%	10.04%	4.34%
Gabelli Multimedia Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Barings Bdc pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.3%. Gabelli Multimedia Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.1%. 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

44.1% of Barings Bdc shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.6% of Gabelli Multimedia Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Barings Bdc shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Gabelli Multimedia Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Barings Bdc has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gabelli Multimedia Trust has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Barings Bdc and Gabelli Multimedia Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Bdc	0	4	1	0	2.20
Gabelli Multimedia Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Barings Bdc currently has a consensus price target of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.22%. Given Barings Bdc’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Barings Bdc is more favorable than Gabelli Multimedia Trust.

Summary

Barings Bdc beats Gabelli Multimedia Trust on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Gabelli Multimedia Trust

The Gabelli Multimedia Trust Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by GAMCO Investors, Inc. It is managed by Gabelli Funds LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets across the globe. It invests in stocks, convertible securities, preferred stock, options, and warrants of companies operating across global telecommunications, media, publishing, and entertainment industries. The fund also invests in companies participating in emerging technological advances in interactive services and products. It invests in stocks of companies across market capitalizations. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P 500 Index and MSCI World Free Index. It was formerly known as Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust Inc. The Gabelli Multimedia Trust Inc. was formed on November 15, 1994 and is domiciled in the United States.