OCSL Stock Recent News

11:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time LOS ANGELES, CA, April 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL) (“Oaktree Specialty Lending” or the “Company”) today announced that it will report its financial results for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2024 before the opening of the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

Income stocks have been overshadowed by growth stocks, but it's the former that pays the bills and can reduce portfolio volatility. Oaktree Specialty Lending is a high-yield investment opportunity with a diverse portfolio and exposure to attractive industries. OCSL's recent drop in price presents a good opportunity for income investors, as it trades at about NAV and carries a strong balance sheet.

Oaktree Specialty Lending has seen a significant decline in share price, but total return since inception is around 170% due to high distributions. OCSL specializes in middle market financing and has diverse exposure to various sectors within their debt portfolio. The current dividend yield for OCSL is 11.4%, with a quarterly dividend of $0.55/share.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp. had a disappointing quarter, with new non-accruals impacting net income and NAV. OCSL's portfolio is primarily focused on secured loans, with overweights in the software and healthcare sectors. The company's net new investments were robust, but the portfolio weighted average yield fell due to non-accruals and credit spread compression.

Oaktree Specialty Lending's shares dropped due to a rise in the non-accrual percentage, creating a buying opportunity. The BDC's focus on senior secured loans and ability to work out problematic loan situations mitigate the impact of non-accruals. Oaktree Specialty Lending's actual financial performance was strong, with growth in interest income and net investment income.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation's stock price is down 8% after reporting fourth quarter results. The increase in non-accruals caused a panic sell-off, but the author believes investors overreacted. The stock is now classified as a Strong Buy with a solid yield above 11% and improved risk/reward relationship.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (OCSL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

While the top- and bottom-line numbers for Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL) give a sense of how the business performed in the quarter ended December 2023, it could be worth looking at how some of its key metrics compare to Wall Street estimates and year-ago values.

Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.57 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.61 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.61 per share a year ago.

Oaktree Specialty Lending is one of the largest BDCs with strong fundamentals across the board carrying an exposure to public bonds, which is uncommon in the BDC space. Recently, OCSL has improved its portfolio and de-risked balance sheet, while keeping net investment income component stable. In this article I review my investment thesis that I issued back in August, 2023 and provide several reasons why I still consider OCSL a buy.