ARCC vs HTGC Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Ares Capital's diversified private-credit book against Hercules Capital's venture-lending focus on yield and risk.
Use this Ares Capital vs Hercules Capital comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
HTGC holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. HTGC leads on both 1-year return (+1.55%) and forward P/E quality (9.03x vs 10.21x for ARCC), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. HTGC leads on both revenue growth (8.50%) and operating margin (83.19%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for HTGC (+9.83%) than for ARCC (+5.21%).
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 | HTGC |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | N/A | 33.1 |
| AI ranki | N/A | #2063 |
| Latest closei | $19.80 | $17.58 |
| 1M returni | -0.35% | +5.27% |
| 6M returni | +13.19% | +32.48% |
| 1Y returni | -2.15% | +1.55% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ARCC | HTGC |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.09K (+10.9%) started 2025-09-15 | $11.63K (+16.3%) started 2025-09-15 |
| 5Y ago | $28.2K (+182.0%) started 2021-09-14 | $38.84K (+288.4%) started 2021-09-14 |
| 10Y ago | $143.61K (+1336.1%) started 2016-09-14 | $237.16K (+2271.6%) started 2016-09-14 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ARCC | HTGC |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $14.17B | $3.32B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 14.73 | 8.79 |
| Forward P/Ei | 10.21 | 9.03 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 9.54 | 9.83 |
| Analyst targeti | $20.77 | $19.50 |
| Target upsidei | +5.21% | +9.83% |
| Metric | ARCC | HTGC |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 3.10% | 8.50% |
| Earnings growthi | -54.10% | 54.70% |
| EPS growthi | -54.10% | +54.70% |
| FCF margini | +24.45% | +45.55% |
| Operating margini | 75.65% | 83.19% |
| Profit margini | 30.91% | 67.68% |
| ROIC proxyi | 6.88% | 17.32% |
| Return on equityi | 6.88% | 17.32% |
| Dividend yieldi | 9.73% | 10.64% |
| Payout ratioi | 143.28% | 93.07% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | 1 yr |
| Betai | 0.63 | 0.74 |
| Debt/equityi | 114.12 | 103.33 |
| Current ratioi | 0.61 | 0.12 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.46 | 0.12 |
Over the past year, ARCC and HTGC have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.71), 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 | HTGC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +0.20% | +3.20% |
| CAGRi | +0.20% | +3.21% | |
| Volatilityi | 19.40% | 24.18% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.12 | 0.07 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.17 | 0.09 | |
| Max drawdowni | 14.90% | 24.74% | |
| Current drawdowni | 1.93% | 0.79% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.35% | 9.66% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.21% | 11.80% | |
| Max daily dropi | 3.94% | 7.91% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.80% | 12.58% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +55.36% | +86.01% |
| CAGRi | +9.21% | +13.22% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.05% | 25.95% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.32 | 0.44 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.44 | 0.60 | |
| Max drawdowni | 21.76% | 35.46% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.14% | 3.41% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.21% | 10.40% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.13% | 13.25% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.76% | 11.73% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 15.16% | 25.27% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +226.30% | +278.38% |
| CAGRi | +12.56% | +14.24% | |
| Volatilityi | 25.60% | 27.91% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.42 | 0.46 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.58 | 0.62 | |
| Max drawdowni | 56.77% | 57.30% | |
| Current drawdowni | 6.14% | 3.41% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.76% | 9.55% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 9.19% | 13.33% | |
| Max daily dropi | 23.55% | 18.26% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 41.83% | 43.03% |
| Category | ARCC | HTGC |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ARCC | HTGC |
| 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… | Hercules Capital, Inc. is a business development company. |
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.