Ares Capital Corporation

ARCC Financial Asset Management

Ares Capital Corporation’s revenue for fiscal 2025 (year ended December 2025) was $3.1 billion, up 2.07% from fiscal 2024.

Revenue
−2.43%
EPS
−22.3%
Free cash flow
+236.1%
Total debt
−3.08%

Quarter to September 2026, against a year earlier

19.33 0.02 −0.10%
Market cap
$14.0B
P/E
15.8×
Fwd P/E
14.9×
Dividend yield
9.91%
F-score
2/9
Altman Z
n/a
Beneish M
n/a
Dividend safety
n/a

Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC) valuation and DCF model

What the price implies · reverse DCF

At $19.33 the price implies −3.4% a year of dividend growth, at a 9.0% cost of equity.

The dividend a share grew 1.5% a year over the last ten years, 2.5% over the last five. The price asks for 4.9 points a year less than its ten-year rate. Return on equity averaged 11.2% over ten years; the price implies 9.0% for good.

Price implies
−3.4%
Last 5 years, reported
2.5%
Last 10 years, reported
1.5%

The headline discounts the last twelve months’ the dividend a share at 9.0% for ten years and grows it 2.5% a year after that, the same for every company, so the figure compares across the market (how a reverse DCF works).

The other way round · DCF
The price needs
−3.4% a year for ten years
$19.33
today’s price
Its base case
1.5% a year for five years, then 0.9%
$27.33
41.4% above today’s price

Both are growth in the dividend a share, discounted at 9.0%, with 2.5% a year after year ten.

Base case on its own ten-year record Ares Capital Corporation’s own growth, carried forward

Its assumptions

Powerpack lets you start from a scenario and type over any of them.

The base case’s inputs, which Powerpack lets you change
1 · Dividends
the four quarters to September 2026, from the 10-Q and 10-K filings

Yearly growth in the dividend. It usually slows as the company matures.

Today’s price implies the dividend a share growing −3.4% a year for ten years.

2 · Rates

Cost of equity is the yearly return shareholders require, typically 8–11%. Terminal growth is growth forever after year 10, usually near long-run inflation, 2–3%.

3 · Per share

The model is a share’s own: no debt to take off and no shares to divide among.

Advanced inputs

Against Ares Capital Corporation’s own cost of capital: risk-free 4.3% + beta 0.64 × equity premium 4.5% = 7.2% cost of equity; after-tax cost of debt 5.1%; weighted, 6.1%.

Use 6.1%
Base case value per share $27.33 ten years discounted, and what follows
Current price $19.33 market price per share
Above today’s price 41.4% upside at the base case’s assumptions

How we got there$13.03 10 years of dividends+$14.30 terminal value=$27.33 per share

Valuation against its own history

Today’s multiple against its 5- and 10-year averages and the industry median (Asset Management).

Multiple Current 5Y avg 10Y avg vs 10Y avg Industry median vs industry 10Y range
P/E 15.85× 11.66× 10.68× 48% above 13.38× 18% above
P/FCF 12.19× 15.76× 15.76× 23% below 7.79× 56% above
P/B 1.00× 0.99× 1.00× 0% above 0.91× 10% above
EV/EBITDA — 13.35× 13.15× — 3.38× —
EV/Sales — 9.64× 9.51× — 3.90× —
6.93×9.70×12.48×15.25×10Y avg 10.68×2017201820192020202120222023202420252026

ARCC trades at 15.85× P/E, against a 10-year average of 10.68× (range 6.02×–15.85×). That is dearer than 100% of the last 9 year-end readings; re-rating to the average implies $13.02 per share.

Every growth rate on this page is the business’s — its cash flow, FFO or dividend — never its share price’s. A discounted-cash-flow model is only as good as its assumptions. Figures from the 10-K and 10-Q filings. Not investment advice.