Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) & Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB) Critical Comparison

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB) and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (NYSE:BXSL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	0	5	5	0	2.50
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	1	5	4	0	2.30

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft presently has a consensus price target of $43.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.77%. Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a consensus price target of $24.89, indicating a potential upside of 1.94%. Given Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft is more favorable than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund.

Volatility and Risk

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	11.53%	8.46%	0.47%
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	21.51%	11.86%	5.10%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft	$68.84 billion	1.15	$7.47 billion	$3.75	10.84
Blackstone Secured Lending Fund	$1.42 billion	4.01	$563.46 million	$1.27	19.22

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has higher revenue and earnings than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.9% of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.5% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, a stock corporation, provides corporate and investment banking, and asset management products and services to private individuals, corporate entities, and institutional clients in Germany, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through Corporate Bank, Investment Bank, Private Bank, and Asset Management segments. The Corporate Bank segment offers cash management, trade finance and lending, trust and agency, and securities services, as well as risk management solutions. The Investment Bank segment provides debt origination, merger and acquisitions, foreign exchange, and equity advisory and origination platform services. The Private Bank segment offers payment and account services, and credit and deposit products, as well as investment advice products, such as environmental, social, and governance products. This segment also provides banking, wealth management, other financial, and postal and parcel services; and supports in planning, managing and investing wealth, financing personal and business interests, and servicing institutional and corporate needs. The Asset Management segment offers investment solutions, such as alternative investments, which include real estate, infrastructure, liquid real assets, and sustainable investments; and various other services, including insurance and pension solutions, asset liability management, portfolio management solutions, and asset allocation advisory to individuals and institutions. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (BDC) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). In addition, the Fund elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a regulated investment company (RIC), as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The fund also intends to continue to comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code in order to maintain tax treatment as a RIC. The fund's investment objectives are to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily through originated loans, equity and other securities, including syndicated loans, of private U.S. companies, specifically small and middle market companies, typically in the form of first lien senior secured and unitranche loans (including first out/last out loans), and to a lesser extent, second lien, third lien, unsecured and subordinated loans and other debt and equity securities.