Analyzing Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) and Blackstone Minerals (OTCMKTS:BLSTF)

Blackstone Minerals (OTCMKTS:BLSTF) and Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Blackstone Minerals and Carlyle Secured Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone Minerals	N/A	N/A	N/A
Carlyle Secured Lending	38.15%	12.92%	5.71%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

24.5% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Carlyle Secured Lending shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Blackstone Minerals and Carlyle Secured Lending, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone Minerals	0	0	0	0	N/A
Carlyle Secured Lending	0	2	1	0	2.33

Carlyle Secured Lending has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 9.30%. Given Carlyle Secured Lending’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Carlyle Secured Lending is more favorable than Blackstone Minerals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Blackstone Minerals and Carlyle Secured Lending’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blackstone Minerals	$260,000.00	41.34	-$21.65 million	N/A	N/A
Carlyle Secured Lending	$241.63 million	3.71	$92.28 million	$1.71	10.32

Carlyle Secured Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Blackstone Minerals.

Risk and Volatility

Blackstone Minerals has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carlyle Secured Lending has a beta of 1.56, meaning that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Carlyle Secured Lending beats Blackstone Minerals on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blackstone Minerals

Blackstone Minerals Limited engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties. The company primarily explores for nickel, cobalt, copper, gold, platinum, manganese, and palladium deposits. It holds a 100% interest in the Gold Bridge project, which covers an area of 367 square kilometers located in the British Columbia, Canada. The company also holds a 90% interest in the Ta Khoa project located in Son La Province, Vietnam. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in West Perth, Australia.

About Carlyle Secured Lending

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. is business development company specializing in first lien debt, senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loan unsecured debt, mezzanine debt and investments in equities. It specializes in directly investing. It specializes in middle market. It targets healthcare and pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, high tech industries, business services, software, beverage food and tobacco, hotel gamming and leisure, banking finance insurance and in real estate sector. The fund seeks to invest across United States of America, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, and United Kingdom. It invests in companies with EBITDA between $25 million and $100 million.