Ares Capital
ARCC on Nasdaq. Ares Capital lends money to small and medium-sized companies. Market value $13.5bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Cash flow or capital spending isn't reported, so free cash flow is unknown.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
We could not compute this from the filings.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: not known. Price score: not known. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$18.64 a share, 7% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $17.40 to $21.14.
Dividend: 9.4% a year
Paid every year for 4 years
Yields this high often come before a cut. Check the company's latest news.
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | ||||
| Revenue | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Operating margin | ||||
| Operating margin | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Debt to equity | ||||
| Debt to equity | 1.28 | 1.06 | 1.03 | 1.12 |
| Shares outstanding | ||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.57bn | 0.65bn | 0.72bn | 0.72bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positiveNot enough data
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)Not enough data
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)No
- Debt1.12× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsUnknown
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 26% more shares since 2022
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Profit: $171 million, down 53% on a year ago.
- 3% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $15.4 billion more than cash, up from $13.7 billion a year ago.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $394m |
| December 2024 | $357m |
| March 2025 | $241m |
| June 2025 | $361m |
| September 2025 | $404m |
| December 2025 | $293m |
| March 2026 | $92m |
| June 2026 | $171m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 4 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 28 October 2026
Who owns it
3 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 3 last quarter. 784 funds in all.
- LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok
- Value
- $10m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Delphi ManagementScott Black
- Value
- $983,000
- Share of fund
- 1.0%
- First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners
- Value
- $247,394
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $10m | <0.1% | |
| Delphi ManagementScott Black | $983,000 | 1.0% | |
| First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners | $247,394 | <0.1% |
Largest holders overall
- Banque Cantonale Vaudoise$1.3bn
- Morgan Stanley$315mAdded
- UBS Group AG$255mCut
- VAN ECK Associates$247mAdded
- Strs Ohio$197m
- Bank of America$166mCut
- JPMorgan Chase$145mAdded
- Generali Asset Management SPA SGR$140m
- Legal & General Group$121mAdded
- TWO Sigma Investments, LP$109mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
No one has reported a stake above 5% since December 2024.
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 4 insiders bought $968,793 of shares on the open market.
- MARKOWICZ JANAChief Operating OfficerBought
- Date
- 9 February 2026
- Shares
- 15,000
- Price
- $19.20
- Value
- $288,000
- Lem Scott CCFO and TreasurerBought
- Date
- 6 February 2026
- Shares
- 5,186
- Price
- $19.29
- Value
- $100,038
- SCHNABEL MICHAEL KORTChief Executive OfficerBought
- Date
- 5 February 2026
- Shares
- 12,500
- Price
- $19.13
- Value
- $239,125
- HENSON MARY BETHDirectorBought
- Date
- 5 February 2026
- Shares
- 4,000
- Price
- $19.14
- Value
- $76,560
- SCHNABEL MICHAEL KORTChief Executive OfficerBought
- Date
- 31 October 2025
- Shares
- 13,000
- Price
- $20.39
- Value
- $265,070
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 February 2026 | MARKOWICZ JANA Chief Operating Officer | Bought | 15,000 | $19.20 | $288,000 |
| 6 February 2026 | Lem Scott C CFO and Treasurer | Bought | 5,186 | $19.29 | $100,038 |
| 5 February 2026 | SCHNABEL MICHAEL KORT Chief Executive Officer | Bought | 12,500 | $19.13 | $239,125 |
| 5 February 2026 | HENSON MARY BETH Director | Bought | 4,000 | $19.14 | $76,560 |
| 31 October 2025 | SCHNABEL MICHAEL KORT Chief Executive Officer | Bought | 13,000 | $20.39 | $265,070 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 4 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 29 Jul 2026 and 12 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- Profits run ahead of cash.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.