Comparing Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) & Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE)

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) and Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hamilton Lane and Barings Corporate Investors”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hamilton Lane	$758.99 million	5.89	$249.18 million	$5.91	13.61
Barings Corporate Investors	$30.18 million	11.62	N/A	N/A	N/A

Hamilton Lane has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Corporate Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Hamilton Lane and Barings Corporate Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hamilton Lane	32.83%	25.98%	15.56%
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Hamilton Lane pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Barings Corporate Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Hamilton Lane pays out 40.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hamilton Lane has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Hamilton Lane and Barings Corporate Investors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hamilton Lane	0	4	6	0	2.60
Barings Corporate Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00

Hamilton Lane presently has a consensus target price of $150.00, indicating a potential upside of 86.43%. Given Hamilton Lane’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hamilton Lane is more favorable than Barings Corporate Investors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.4% of Hamilton Lane shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.2% of Hamilton Lane shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Barings Corporate Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Hamilton Lane has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Corporate Investors has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hamilton Lane beats Barings Corporate Investors on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hamilton Lane

Hamilton Lane Incorporated is a private equity firm specializing in early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, middle market, mature, mid-venture, bridge, buyout, distressed/vulture, loan, mezzanine in growth capital companies. It prefers to invest in energy, industrials, consumer discretionary, health care, real estate, information technology, utilities, and consumer services. The firm prefers to invest in Africa/Middle East, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, United States of America, and Canada. The firm prefers to invest between $1 million and $100 million. It prefers to take majority stake. Hamilton Lane Incorporated was founded in 1991 and is based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania with additional offices across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

About Barings Corporate Investors

Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in a portfolio of privately placed, below-investment grade, long term corporate debt obligations. The fund also invests in marketable investment grade debt securities, other marketable debt securities, and marketable common stocks. It was formerly known as Babson Capital Corporate Investors. Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust was formed in 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.