Sixth Street Specialty Lending's Historical Value Creation May Offer Insights Into Its Future Returns

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. (TSLX) is a business development company, or BDC. The company primarily invests in companies with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, between $10 million and $250 million, according to the company’s most recent earnings presentation. Almost all of Sixth Street’s investments are in the companies’ first-lien secured, floating-rate debt.

I recently wrote about another BDC, Prospect Capital (PSEC), that looks cheap because it trades at a steep discount to book value.

Sixth Street Specialty Lending does not look cheap. The company trades at a price to book ratio of around 106.5%, compared to the average P/B ratio for BDCs, which is around 83%. This means each dollar of stock buys only 93.9 cents in equity in Sixth Street, compared to around $1.20 in equity in the average BDC.

That said, as in life, in investing you often get what you pay for. In several recent articles, I’ve described two common types of investment opportunities:

1. High quality companies trading at a modest discount to intrinsic value.
2. More average companies trading at a much larger discount to intrinsic value.

In the long run, high quality companies compound an investor’s capital far more than average ones. To see if Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. is a high quality company, we can use the methodology I used in my article about Prospect. We can look at how much value the company has historically created for shareholders. This will help us predict the company’s future value creation, and thus the company’s possibilities for future share price growth and dividends. (Read More)

Prospect Capital's Value Creation Since Its IPO May Offer Insights Into Its Future Returns

Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC) is a business development company, or BDC. The company invests in middle market companies with an “enterprise value between $5 million and $1000 million,” according to the company's profile. Prospect invests in both the companies’ secured and unsecured debt as well as their equity.

By several metrics, Prospect’s stock looks cheap. The company’s price to book value ratio on July 31st was 63%. This means each share of the company’s stock trading at $5.01 a share corresponded to $7.98 of the company’s equity. Prospect also pays a monthly dividend of $0.06 per share, giving the company an annual dividend yield of over 14%.

Prospect Capital’s cheapness raises a question. Is it a high quality company I can “buy and hold” forever while it compounds my investment?

To see if Prospect Capital is a high quality company, we can use the same methodology I used in my May 2020 article about Ladder Capital. We can look at how much value the company has created for shareholders since its 2004 IPO. This will help us predict the company’s future value creation, and thus the company’s possibilities for future share price growth and dividends. (Read More)