Critical Comparison: Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) & Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL)

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) and Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Amalgamated Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	47.80%	12.49%	5.67%
Amalgamated Financial	23.60%	15.42%	1.32%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Amalgamated Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	0	2	4	0	2.67
Amalgamated Financial	1	0	1	0	2.00

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund presently has a consensus price target of $31.3750, indicating a potential upside of 3.84%. Amalgamated Financial has a consensus price target of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.87%. Given Amalgamated Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Amalgamated Financial is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Amalgamated Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.33 billion	5.23	$694.10 million	$3.17	9.53
Amalgamated Financial	$434.51 million	1.94	$106.43 million	$3.34	8.24

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has higher revenue and earnings than Amalgamated Financial. Amalgamated Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. Amalgamated Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 97.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Amalgamated Financial pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amalgamated Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amalgamated Financial has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund beats Amalgamated Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). In addition, the Fund elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a regulated investment company (RIC), as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The fund also intends to continue to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code in order to maintain tax treatment as a RIC. The fund's investment objectives are to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily through originated loans, equity and other securities, including syndicated loans, of private U.S. companies, specifically small and middle market companies, typically in the form of first lien senior secured and unitranche loans (including first out/last out loans), and to a lesser extent, second lien, third lien, unsecured and subordinated loans and other debt and equity securities.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also provides various commercial loans comprising commercial and industrial, multifamily mortgage, and commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; and retail loans, such as residential real estate, consumer solar, and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company offers online banking, bill payment, online cash management, and safe deposit box rental services; debit and ATM cards; and trust, custody, and investment management services comprising asset safekeeping, corporate actions, income collections, proxy, account transition, asset transfers, and conversion management services. Further, it provides investment products, such as funds spanning equity, fixed-income, real estate, and alternative investment products; and brokerage, asset management, and insurance products. Amalgamated Financial Corp. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York, New York.