Head-To-Head Contrast: BlackRock MuniAssets Fund (NYSE:MUA) & Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX)

Sixth Street Specialty Lending (NYSE:TSLX) and BlackRock MuniAssets Fund (NYSE:MUA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Sixth Street Specialty Lending and BlackRock MuniAssets Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	21.79%	11.33%	5.16%
BlackRock MuniAssets Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sixth Street Specialty Lending and BlackRock MuniAssets Fund”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	$449.05 million	3.99	$209.99 million	$0.95	19.83
BlackRock MuniAssets Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Sixth Street Specialty Lending has higher revenue and earnings than BlackRock MuniAssets Fund.

Dividends

Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.9%. BlackRock MuniAssets Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.39 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Sixth Street Specialty Lending pays out 176.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Sixth Street Specialty Lending and BlackRock MuniAssets Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sixth Street Specialty Lending	0	3	5	0	2.62
BlackRock MuniAssets Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

Sixth Street Specialty Lending presently has a consensus price target of $19.83, suggesting a potential upside of 5.27%. Given Sixth Street Specialty Lending’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Sixth Street Specialty Lending is more favorable than BlackRock MuniAssets Fund.

Volatility and Risk

Sixth Street Specialty Lending has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BlackRock MuniAssets Fund has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.3% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.4% of BlackRock MuniAssets Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Sixth Street Specialty Lending shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of BlackRock MuniAssets Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Sixth Street Specialty Lending beats BlackRock MuniAssets Fund on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sixth Street Specialty Lending

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (NYSE: TSLX) is a business development company. The fund provides senior secured loans (first-lien, second-lien, and unitranche), unsecured loans, mezzanine debt, and investments in corporate bonds and equity securities and structured products, non-control structured equity, and common equity with a focus on co-investments for organic growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, restructuring initiatives, recapitalizations, and refinancing. The fund invests in business services, software & technology, healthcare, energy, consumer & retail, manufacturing, industrials, royalty related businesses, education, and specialty finance. It seeks to finance and lending to middle market companies principally located in the United States. The fund invests in companies with enterprise value between $50 million and $1 billion or more and EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million. The transaction size is between $15 million and $350 million. The fund invests across the spectrum of the capital structure and can arrange syndicated transactions of up to $500 million and hold sizeable positions within its credits.

About BlackRock MuniAssets Fund

BlackRock MuniAssets Fund, Inc. is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. It is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It seeks to provide current income exempt from federal income taxes by investing primarily in a portfolio of medium-to-lower grade or unrated municipal obligations the interest on which is exempt from federal income taxes. The fund was formerly known as MuniAssets Fund, Inc. BlackRock MuniAssets Fund, Inc. was formed on June 25, 1993 and is domiciled in United States.