Financial Contrast: Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) vs. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL)

Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Amalgamated Financial has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.9% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Amalgamated Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Amalgamated Financial and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amalgamated Financial	1	1	1	0	2.00
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	0	4	2	0	2.33

Amalgamated Financial currently has a consensus price target of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.86%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a consensus price target of $15.35, suggesting a potential upside of 19.46%. Given Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending is more favorable than Amalgamated Financial.

Dividends

Amalgamated Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.2%. Amalgamated Financial pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays out 120.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Amalgamated Financial has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Amalgamated Financial and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amalgamated Financial	22.33%	13.89%	1.23%
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	29.56%	9.80%	4.18%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Amalgamated Financial and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amalgamated Financial	$453.17 million	2.64	$104.45 million	$3.44	11.64
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending	$207.86 million	3.05	$65.61 million	$1.20	10.71

Amalgamated Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amalgamated Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Amalgamated Financial beats Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amalgamated Financial

Amalgamated Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Amalgamated Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, investment management, and trust and custody services for commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including non-interest bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand products, savings accounts, money market accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. It also provides various commercial loans comprising commercial and industrial, multifamily mortgage, and commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; and retail loans, such as residential real estate, consumer solar, and consumer and other loans. In addition, the company offers online banking, bill payment, online cash management, and safe deposit box rental services; debit and ATM cards; and trust, custody, and investment management services comprising asset safekeeping, corporate actions, income collections, proxy, account transition, asset transfers, and conversion management services. Further, it provides investment products, such as funds spanning equity, fixed-income, real estate, and alternative investment products; and brokerage, asset management, and insurance products. Amalgamated Financial Corp. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

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.