ARCC vs BXSL Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Ares Capital's scale and track record against Blackstone Secured Lending's senior-secured-focused portfolio.
Use this Ares Capital vs Blackstone Secured Lending comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
ARCC and BXSL are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly. ARCC has delivered stronger 1-year price return (-2.15% vs -2.54%), though BXSL has the better forward P/E setup (9.56x vs 10.21x for ARCC). On fundamentals, ARCC is growing revenue faster (3.10%), while BXSL maintains the higher operating margin (87.14%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for ARCC (+5.21%) than for BXSL (-0.37%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | N/A | N/A |
| AI ranki | N/A | N/A |
| Latest closei | $19.80 | $24.65 |
| 1M returni | -0.35% | -0.12% |
| 6M returni | +13.19% | +11.76% |
| 1Y returni | -2.15% | -2.54% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.09K (+10.9%) started 2025-09-15 | $11.4K (+14.0%) started 2025-09-15 |
| 5Y ago | $28.2K (+182.0%) started 2021-09-14 | $28.69K (+186.9%) started 2021-10-28 |
| 10Y ago | $143.61K (+1336.1%) started 2016-09-14 | $28.69K (+186.9%) started 2021-10-28 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $14.17B | $5.75B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 14.73 | 19.42 |
| Forward P/Ei | 10.21 | 9.56 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 9.54 | 9.62 |
| Analyst targeti | $20.77 | $24.57 |
| Target upsidei | +5.21% | -0.37% |
| Metric | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 3.10% | -7.10% |
| Earnings growthi | -54.10% | -94.00% |
| EPS growthi | -54.10% | -94.00% |
| FCF margini | +24.45% | +30.02% |
| Operating margini | 75.65% | 87.14% |
| Profit margini | 30.91% | 21.53% |
| ROIC proxyi | 6.88% | 4.80% |
| Return on equityi | 6.88% | 4.80% |
| Dividend yieldi | 9.73% | 12.48% |
| Payout ratioi | 143.28% | 242.52% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.63 | 0.42 |
| Debt/equityi | 114.12 | 126.90 |
| Current ratioi | 0.61 | 1.31 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.46 | 1.03 |
Over the past year, ARCC and BXSL have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.81), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +0.20% | +0.37% |
| CAGRi | +0.20% | +0.37% | |
| Volatilityi | 19.40% | 21.08% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.12 | -0.09 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.17 | -0.14 | |
| Max drawdowni | 14.90% | 14.78% | |
| Current drawdowni | 1.93% | 4.67% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.35% | 7.24% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.21% | 8.31% | |
| Max daily dropi | 3.94% | 3.80% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.80% | 6.74% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +55.36% | +48.80% |
| CAGRi | +9.21% | +8.49% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.05% | 23.47% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.32 | 0.27 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.44 | 0.39 | |
| Max drawdowni | 21.76% | 36.80% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.14% | 15.22% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.21% | 14.34% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.13% | 17.56% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.76% | 7.86% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 15.16% | 17.90% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +226.30% | +48.80% |
| CAGRi | +12.56% | +8.49% | |
| Volatilityi | 25.60% | 23.47% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.42 | 0.27 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.58 | 0.39 | |
| Max drawdowni | 56.77% | 36.80% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.14% | 15.22% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.76% | 14.34% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 9.19% | 17.56% | |
| Max daily dropi | 23.55% | 7.86% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 41.83% | 17.90% |
| Category | ARCC | BXSL |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ARCC | BXSL |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Asset Management | Asset Management |
| Core business | Ares Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in growth capital, acquisition, recapitalization, mezzanine debt, restructurings, rescue financing, and leveraged buyout transactions of middle mar… | 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. |
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