Ares Capital Corporation vs Coursera Inc — how do they compare? Ares Capital Corporation trades at $19.99 (market cap $14.35B), while Coursera Inc trades at $5.65 (market cap $1.52B). The key difference: Ares Capital Corporation is far larger — about 9.4× Coursera Inc's market cap, and Ares Capital Corporation pays a 9.61% dividend while Coursera Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ARCC | COUR | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $14.35B | $1.52B |
Sector | Financials | Consumer Staples |
52-Week High | $22.68 | $12.20 |
52-Week Low | $17.45 | $5.09 |
Dividend Yield | 9.61% | — |
Enterprise Value | — | $778.04M |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
ARCC trades at $20.01, up 1.99% today, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages but neutral oscillators. Recent earnings show Q2 2026 EPS of $0.47, slightly below the $0.4731 estimate, continuing a trend of minor misses. Revenue declined to $1.51B in 2025 from $1.7B in 2024, with net income margin at 81.77%. The stock offers a high dividend yield, with consistent payouts highlighted in recent news.
Outlook is mixed: strong analyst buy consensus (75%) and a stable dividend history support income investors, but declining revenue and tight dividend coverage pose risks. Price target consensus is $19.63, below the current price, suggesting limited upside. Macro risks in private credit, per WSJ on August 9, 2026, add caution.
Coursera (COUR) trades at $5.81, up 4.5% with bullish technical signals and strong analyst support. The company shows improving revenue growth ($757.5M in 2025, projected to $885M in 2026) but remains unprofitable with negative margins. Recent Q2 2026 earnings beat expectations with $0.17 EPS versus $0.10 estimate, while the company made a strategic $100M investment in AI education startup LearnVector.
The stock offers 32% upside to consensus price target of $7.70, supported by 53% buy ratings, but faces execution risks from persistent losses and competitive pressures in online education. Revenue growth trajectory and cost management will be critical for valuation improvement.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Ares Capital Corp is a United States-based closed-ended specialty finance company. Its investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation through debt and equity investments. The company focuses on investing primarily in U.S. middle-market companies with investment opportunities as well as in larger companies. Its portfolio comprises of first lien senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loans, and mezzanine debt (subordinated unsecured loan), which may include equity components that are diversified by industry and sector. The company may invest in preferred and common equity investments to a lesser proportion. Its revenue mainly consists of interest and dividend income received from the investment made.
Read more on ARCC →Coursera Inc is a global online learning platform that offers anyone, anywhere access to online courses and degrees from world-class universities and companies. It combines content, data, and technology into a single, unified platform that is customizable and extensible to both individual learners and institutions. The platform will contain a catalog of high-quality content and credentials, content developed by leading university and industry partners, data and machine learning drive personalized Learning, effective marketing, and skills Benchmarking and others.
Read more on COUR →