Comparing Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) and Guild (NYSE:GHLD)

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

Dividends

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Guild pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. Guild pays out -153.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

17.5% of Guild shares are owned by institutional investors. 78.0% of Guild shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending and Guild, as reported 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 currently has a consensus price target of $18.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.84%. Guild has a consensus price target of $15.25, indicating a potential upside of 11.89%. Given Guild’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Guild is more favorable than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending and Guild’s gross 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	5.92	$75.94 million	N/A	N/A
Guild	$663.86 million	1.25	-$39.01 million	($0.65)	-20.97

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

Summary

Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending beats Guild on 8 of the 13 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.