Contrasting TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) and Crescent Capital BDC (NASDAQ:CCAP)

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE:TPVG) and Crescent Capital BDC (NASDAQ:CCAP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Crescent Capital BDC”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	$108.65 million	2.51	$32.05 million	$0.93	7.28
Crescent Capital BDC	$197.36 million	N/A	$73.65 million	$1.34	10.53

Crescent Capital 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 Crescent Capital BDC, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC and Crescent Capital BDC, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	1	5	0	0	1.83
Crescent Capital BDC	0	1	3	0	2.75

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC currently has a consensus target price of $6.96, suggesting a potential upside of 2.78%. Crescent Capital BDC has a consensus target price of $17.60, suggesting a potential upside of 24.73%. Given Crescent Capital BDC’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Crescent Capital BDC is more favorable than TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC.

Dividends

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.7%. Crescent Capital BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.9%. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC pays out 129.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crescent Capital BDC pays out 125.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Crescent Capital BDC has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crescent Capital BDC has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.8% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of Crescent Capital BDC shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Crescent Capital BDC shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC	36.10%	14.12%	6.53%
Crescent Capital BDC	26.20%	11.10%	4.96%

Summary

Crescent Capital BDC beats TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC on 10 of the 16 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 Crescent Capital BDC

Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. is as a business development company private equity / buyouts and loan fund. It specializes in directly investing. It specializes in middle market. The fund seeks to invest in United States.