Carlyle Secured Lending raised to Buy at B. Riley Securities after Q4 earnings

[BDC concept is shown by businessman.]
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Carlyle Secured Lending (CGBD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CGBD]) was raised to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley Securities after Q4 earnings, considering an attractive valuation.

The price target was maintained at $13.

Carlyle Secured Lending's Q4 non-GAAP EPS [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4556307-carlyle-secured-lending-non-gaap-eps-of-0_36-misses-by-0_01] of $0.36 missed its consensus estimate by $0.01.

"Though the management churn frequency is still a valid callout, we do not believe platform credit quality dictates a current ~.65x P/NAV discount," said analyst Sean-Paul Adams.

"At this entry point, we believe the underlying core vehicle metrics provide an enhanced ~14% current dividend yield, a still attractive earnings profile, and an opportunity for entry at a P/NAV that the platform has been at for less than ~10% of trading days since fund inception," said the research note.

"We believe valuation downside (relative to historical trading levels, BDC group P/NAV performance monitored since '14) is limited at current ~.65x P/NAV entry, with our conservative PT (price target) implying ~.8x P/NAV target reasonable with enhanced yield from the current dividend," added the note.

"Our core forward forecasts have not yet embedded the potential uplift from the new JV announcement, which we view as a further tailwind," said the note.

B. Riley's rating differs from the average sell-side analysts' rating [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CGBD/ratings/sell-side-ratings] and Seeking Alpha's Quant rating [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CGBD/ratings/quant-ratings] of Hold. SA authors [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CGBD/ratings/author-ratings] grade the stock as Sell.

MORE ON CARLYLE SECURED LENDING

* Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. (CGBD) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4874714-carlyle-secured-lending-inc-cgbd-q4-2025-earnings-call-transcript]
* Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4874636-carlyle-secured-lending-inc-2025-q4-results-earnings-call-presentation]
* Time To Derisk BDC Holding And Avoid Carlyle Secured Lending [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4874450-time-to-derisk-bdc-holding-and-avoid-carlyle-secured-lending]
* Carlyle Secured Lending outlines new joint venture and $300M share repurchase program amid record originations [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4557020-carlyle-secured-lending-outlines-new-joint-venture-and-300m-share-repurchase-program-amid]