ARCC
Ares Capital Corporation
ARCC's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 16x earnings, above its usual 9.9x. Analysts expect earnings to hold roughly steady.
ARCC Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Weak | |
| Healthy | |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
ARCC's profitability is currently healthy, but its revenue is weak. Free cash flow and net leverage aren't meaningful measures for financial services companies like ARCC.
ARCC PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 6.2x | $7.54 | -61% |
| Fair | 9.8x | $11.94 | -38% |
| Forward | 9.9x | $19.11 | — |
| Expensive | 15x | $17.95 | -6.1% |
| Current | 16x | $19.11 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
ARCC's PE is in its expensive range at 16x. On analysts' estimates for next year's earnings, today's price would be 9.9x, in its fair range.
ARCC Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Stable | |
| Stable | |
| Strongly weakening | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect ARCC's profitability to weaken, with its earnings and revenue holding steady.
ARCC Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.92 | +58% |
| Q3 2026 | $1.22 | -39% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.35 | -34% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.63 | -20% |
| Q4 2025 | $1.86 | -24% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.99 | -24% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.04 | -29% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.04 | -30% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.44 | -9% |
ARCC's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $1.22 over the past year, against $3.89 in mid-2021.
ARCC Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | $230M | -61% |
| Q1 2022 | $375M | -27% |
| Q4 2021 | $505M | +6.1% |
| Q3 2021 | $444M | -17% |
| Q2 2021 | $585M | +59% |
| Q4 2020 | $476M | +61% |
ARCC's revenue has slid since its 2021 peak: $230M last quarter, down 61% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | 53% | -31 points |
| Q1 2022 | 60% | -14 points |
| Q4 2021 | 77% | -3.6 points |
| Q3 2021 | 76% | -7.3 points |
| Q2 2021 | 84% | +7 points |
| Q1 2021 | 73% | N/A |
| Q4 2020 | 81% | +11 points |
| Q3 2020 | 84% | N/A |
ARCC's operating margin was 53% last quarter, down 31 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the bottom of its range since 2019.
ARCC Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1.1B | +$1.8B |
| Q2 2026 | $336M | +$554M |
| Q1 2026 | $184M | +$483M |
| Q4 2025 | -$427M | -$159M |
| Q3 2025 | -$773M | -$252M |
| Q2 2025 | -$218M | +$1.1B |
| Q1 2025 | -$299M | -$278M |
| Q4 2024 | -$268M | +$91M |
ARCC's free cash flow was $1.1B over the past year, against −$1.6B the year before. Free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like ARCC.
ARCC Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.3% | +2M shares |
| 1 year | +1.6% | +11M shares |
| 3 years | +24% | +138M shares |
| 5 years | +59% | +267M shares |
| Available history | +68% | +291M shares |
ARCC has 720M diluted shares, up 1.6% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | — |
| Q1 2022 | — |
| Q4 2021 | — |
| Q3 2021 | — |
| Q2 2021 | — |
| Q1 2021 | — |
| Q4 2020 | — |
| Q3 2020 | — |
ARCC Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | 10.9x | High |
| Q1 2022 | 6.9x | High |
| Q4 2021 | 6.8x | High |
| Q3 2021 | 5.6x | High |
| Q2 2021 | 5.3x | High |
| Q1 2021 | 5.2x | High |
| Q4 2020 | 16.6x | High |
| Q3 2020 | 23.1x | High |
ARCC's net debt is about 11 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 5.3 years a year ago. Net leverage isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like ARCC.
ARCC Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 49.4 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 42.5 | Neutral |
ARCC's weekly RSI is 49 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 42 (neutral).
ARCC PE vs Financial Services Sector
| Metric | ARCC | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 16x | 13x | 20% above |
| PE % | 87 | 63 | 24 pts above |
ARCC is trading at 16x earnings, a 20% premium to the Financial Services sector's median of 13x.
ARCC Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $18.9 | 1% above |
| 20 week MA | $19.2 | 0.6% below |
| 50 week MA | $19.2 | 0.5% below |
| 100 week MA | $20.5 | 6.6% below |
| 200 week MA | $20.2 | 5.4% below |
ARCC has bounced recently, but its long-term trend is still down: it's above its 8-week average, but 5.4% below its 200-week average.
ARCC Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $18.6 | $16.4 | -12% |
| 2021 | $16.4 | $20.7 | +26% |
| 2022 | $20.7 | $18.7 | -9.6% |
| 2023 | $18.7 | $20.0 | +7.2% |
| 2024 | $20.0 | $22.0 | +9.9% |
| 2025 | $22.0 | $20.2 | -8.3% |
| 2026 YTD | $20.2 | $19.1 | -5.4% |
ARCC has finished lower in three of the last six years. It's down 5.4% so far in 2026.