Reviewing Guild (NYSE:GHLD) & Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL)

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) and Guild (NYSE:GHLD) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending and Guild’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	$161.76 million	5.94	$75.94 million	N/A	N/A
Guild	$655.19 million	1.30	-$39.01 million	($0.65)	-21.51

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Guild.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

17.5% of Guild shares are held by institutional investors. 78.0% of Guild shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending and Guild, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	0	3	3	0	2.50
Guild	1	1	2	0	2.25

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending presently has a consensus target price of $18.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.47%. Guild has a consensus target price of $15.25, suggesting a potential upside of 9.08%. Given Guild’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Guild is more favorable than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending.

Profitability

This table compares Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending and Guild’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	46.95%	11.91%	4.89%
Guild	-5.95%	3.57%	1.27%

Summary

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending beats Guild on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is a specialty finance company focused primarily on investing in senior secured loans to private equity-owned U.S. middle market companies. It has elected to be regulated as a business development company. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is based in NEW YORK.

About Guild

Guild Holdings Company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans in the United States. It operates in two segments, Origination and Servicing. The company offers residential mortgages through retail and correspondent channels. Guild Holdings Company was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.