Critical Contrast: Kayne Anderson BDC (NYSE:KBDC) & Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL)

Kayne Anderson BDC (NYSE:KBDC) and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Kayne Anderson BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.3%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.6%. Kayne Anderson BDC pays out 94.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays out 117.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Kayne Anderson BDC and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kayne Anderson BDC	52.99%	10.90%	5.97%
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	36.83%	11.13%	4.83%

Risk and Volatility

Kayne Anderson BDC has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Kayne Anderson BDC and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kayne Anderson BDC	0	1	3	0	2.75
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	0	3	1	0	2.25

Kayne Anderson BDC presently has a consensus target price of $16.13, suggesting a potential upside of 13.84%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus target price of $15.75, suggesting a potential upside of 10.48%. Given Kayne Anderson BDC’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kayne Anderson BDC is more favorable than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kayne Anderson BDC and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kayne Anderson BDC	$213.11 million	4.69	$131.94 million	$1.69	8.38
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	$224.04 million	3.14	$116.32 million	$1.53	9.32

Kayne Anderson BDC has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. Kayne Anderson BDC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Kayne Anderson BDC beats Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kayne Anderson BDC

Kayne Anderson BDC Inc. is a business development company which invests primarily in first lien senior secured loans, with a secondary focus on unitranche and split-lien loans to middle market companies. Kayne Anderson BDC Inc. is based in CHICAGO.

About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is a specialty finance company focused primarily on investing in senior secured loans to private equity-owned U.S. middle market companies. It has elected to be regulated as a business development company. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is based in NEW YORK.