Is ARCC a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Ares Capital Corporation on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how ARCC compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Ares Capital Corporation's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to ARCC based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes ARCC a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

ARCC - Ares Capital Corporation

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $21.88 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Banks, Insurers & Asset Managers

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

B 70.0 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for banks, insurers & asset managers businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 25%

A- 81.0

Scored using ROA (NIM proxy) — financial-archetype substitution.

5yr Avg ROA 4.2% 100/100
Operating Margin Trend -0.38 pp/yr 37/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 20%

D+ 42.3

Scored using ROTCE — financial-archetype substitution.

5yr Avg ROTCE 9.1% 60/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 11.9% 0/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 10%

B- 65.0

Scored using BVPS — financial-archetype substitution.

5yr BVPS CAGR 24.6% 100/100
5yr EPS CAGR -14.7% 0/100
Positive-EPS Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 5%

B 74.4

Scored using OCF/NI — banks have no FCF concept.

5yr OCF/NI 0.84x 74/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 30%

A- 84.7

Scored using Equity/Assets — financial-archetype substitution.

Equity / Assets 45.8% 100/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 3.40x 49/100

Stability

Weight: 10%

C+ 57.2

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.38 46/100
Piotroski F-Score 5 56/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 1/5 80/100

2 of 2 gurus held; 1 added; 1 trimmed.

Holders: 2
Avg Δ position: +99.5%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Cooperman increased +215%
Wood decreased -16%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (25%) — 5yr Avg ROA, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (20%) — 5yr Avg ROTCE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (10%) — 5yr BVPS CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Positive-EPS Years (5)
Cash Generation (5%) — 5yr OCF/NI
Balance Sheet (30%) — Equity / Assets, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int)
Stability (10%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.