Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) versus Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) Head to Head Review

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) and Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund and Jefferies Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	1	7	4	0	2.25
Jefferies Financial Group	0	5	2	0	2.29

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund presently has a consensus price target of $24.89, suggesting a potential upside of 6.98%. Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus price target of $56.86, suggesting a potential upside of 23.41%. Given Jefferies Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Jefferies Financial Group is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.

Dividends

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.2%. Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund pays out 242.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 43.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	21.51%	11.86%	5.10%
Jefferies Financial Group	7.50%	9.24%	1.27%

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.42 billion	3.82	$563.46 million	$1.27	18.32
Jefferies Financial Group	$10.82 billion	0.80	$710.47 million	$3.65	12.62

Jefferies Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Jefferies Financial Group 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.57, meaning that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Jefferies Financial Group beats Blackstone Secured Lending Fund on 11 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 Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services. The company also offers financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services; equities research, sales, and trading services; wealth management services; and online foreign exchange trading services. In addition, it provides investment grade distressed debt securities, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, leveraged loans, emerging markets debt, and interest rate and credit index derivative products; and manages and offers services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes. The company was formerly known as Leucadia National Corporation and changed its name to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in May 2018. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in New York, New York.