Contrasting Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) and Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC)

Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC) and Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

23.4% of Capital Southwest shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Sound Point Meridian Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Capital Southwest shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Capital Southwest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A
Capital Southwest	45.46%	13.76%	6.51%

Dividends

Sound Point Meridian Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 27.5%. Capital Southwest pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.2%. Sound Point Meridian Capital pays out -85.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital Southwest pays out 128.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Capital Southwest has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Sound Point Meridian Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Capital Southwest”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A	($3.53)	-3.08
Capital Southwest	$204.44 million	6.68	$70.55 million	$1.81	12.54

Capital Southwest has higher revenue and earnings than Sound Point Meridian Capital. Sound Point Meridian Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capital Southwest, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Sound Point Meridian Capital and Capital Southwest, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sound Point Meridian Capital	1	2	1	0	2.00
Capital Southwest	0	3	6	0	2.67

Sound Point Meridian Capital presently has a consensus target price of $16.50, suggesting a potential upside of 51.52%. Capital Southwest has a consensus target price of $23.42, suggesting a potential upside of 3.16%. Given Sound Point Meridian Capital’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sound Point Meridian Capital is more favorable than Capital Southwest.

Volatility and Risk

Sound Point Meridian Capital has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital Southwest has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Capital Southwest beats Sound Point Meridian Capital on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sound Point Meridian Capital

Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. Its investment objective is to generate high current income, with a secondary objective to generate capital appreciation, by investing primarily in third-party collateralized loan obligation equity and mezzanine tranches. Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is based in NEW YORK.

About Capital Southwest

Capital Southwest Corporation is a business development company specializing in credit and private equity and venture capital investments in middle market companies, mezzanine, later stage, mature, late venture, emerging growth, buyouts, industry consolidation, recapitalizations and growth capital investments. It does not invest in startups, publicly traded companies, real estate developments, project finance opportunities, oil and gas exploration businesses, troubled companies, turnarounds, and companies in which significant senior management is departing. In lower middle market, the firm typically invests in growth financing, bolt-on acquisitions, new platform acquisitions, refinancing, dividend recapitalizations, sponsor-led buyouts, and management buyouts situations. The investment structures are Unitranche debt, subordinated debt, senior debt, first and second lien debt, and preferred and common equity. The firm makes equity co-investments alongside debt investments, up to 20% of total check and only makes non-control investments. The firm is Industry agnostic, but it prefers to invest in Industrial manufacturing and services, value-added distribution, healthcare products and services, business services, specialty chemicals, food and beverage, tech-enabled services and SaaS models. The firm seeks to invest in energy services and products, industrial technologies, and specialty chemicals and products. Within energy services and products, the firm seeks to invest in each segment of the industry, including upstream, midstream and downstream, excluding exploration and production with a focus on differentiated products and services, equipment and tool rental, consumable products, and drilling and completion chemicals. Within industrial technologies, it seeks to invest in automation and process controls, handling and packaging equipment, industrial filtration and fluid handling, measurement, monitoring and testing, professional tools, and sensors and instrumentation. Within and specialty chemicals and products, the firm seeks to invest in businesses that develop and manufacture highly differentiated chemicals and products including adhesives, coatings and sealants, catalysts and absorbents, cosmeceuticals, fine chemicals, flavors and fragrances, performance lubricants, polymers, plastics and composites, chemical dispensing and filtration equipment, professional and industrial trade consumables and tools, engineered solutions for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical installations, specified high performance materials for fire protection and oilfield applications. It may also invest in exceptional opportunities in building products. The firm seeks to invest in the United States and North America. The firm seeks to make investments ranging from $5 million and $25 million in securities. It leads $5 to $70 million financings, Its Target holds of $5 million and $45 million, and the firm is willing to backstop up to $55mm with an active network of co-investors. It seeks to invest in the firm with minimum EBITDA is $3 million and $25 million. In addition to making direct investments, the firm allocates capital to syndicated first and second lien term loans in the upper middle market. Criteria for Upper Middle Market Syndicated 1st Lien is EBITDA Size more than $30 million, Closing Leverage greater than 4 times, investment hold size between $5 million and $7 million up to $15mm with senior loan fund, investment yield greater than 6.5%. Criteria for Upper Middle Market Syndicated 2nd Lien is EBITDA Size more than $50 million, Closing Leverage greater than 6 times, investment hold size between $5 million and $7 million, investment yield greater than 9%. It prefers to take a majority and minority stake. The firm has the flexibility to hold investments for very long period in its portfolio companies. It may also invest through warrants. The firm prefers to take Board participation in its portfolio companies. Capital Southwest Corporation was founded on April 19, 1961 and is based in Dallas, Texas.