Ares Capital Corporation vs Cloudflare Inc — how do they compare? Ares Capital Corporation trades at $18.75 (market cap $13.48B), while Cloudflare Inc trades at $267.83 (market cap $95.27B). The key difference: Cloudflare Inc is far larger — about 7.1× Ares Capital Corporation's market cap, and Ares Capital Corporation pays a 10.22% dividend while Cloudflare Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ARCC | NET | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $13.48B | $95.27B |
Sector | Financials | Technology |
52-Week High | $23.25 | $275.58 |
52-Week Low | $17.45 | $160.16 |
Dividend Yield | 10.22% | — |
Enterprise Value | — | $94.63B |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Ares Capital (ARCC) trades at $18.78, up 2.01% on the day, with a bearish technical signal but strong analyst support. The stock shows a P/E of 11.52 and P/B of 0.96, trading below the consensus price target of $20.58. Recent earnings have missed expectations, with Q2 2026 results pending, while revenue declined to $1.51B in 2025 from $1.7B in 2024. A dividend of $0.48 is scheduled for payment on June 30, 2026, supporting income appeal amid mixed sentiment.
ARCC presents a value opportunity with a high dividend yield and undervaluation relative to analyst targets, but faces headwinds from earnings misses and a bearish technical outlook. Risks include revenue volatility and competitive pressures in the BDC space, though institutional buy ratings suggest confidence in recovery potential. Investors should weigh income stability against growth challenges.
Cloudflare (NET) trades at $268.40, down 2.61% over 24 hours but remains near recent highs. The stock shows strong technical momentum with bullish moving averages and recent analyst upgrades. Fundamentally, revenue grew to $2.17 billion in 2025, though net income remains negative at -$102 million. Recent news highlights Cloudflare's strategic pivot toward AI infrastructure, including a research pilot with OpenAI announced July 8, 2026.
Outlook remains optimistic due to AI-driven growth potential and consistent earnings beats, but high valuation multiples (P/S 40.36) and negative profitability pose risks. Analyst consensus is strongly bullish with a $250.33 price target, though competition and execution challenges could pressure shareholder returns.
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 →Cloudflare is a software company based in San Francisco, California, that offers security and web performance offerings by utilizing a distributed, serverless content delivery network, or CDN. The firm's edge computing platform, Workers, leverages this network by providing clients the ability to deploy, and execute code without maintaining servers.
Read more on NET →