# Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/OCSL

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:30:50.559Z. Financial observations: FY2008–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $11.78 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $15.16 per share, central $17.20 per share, high $19.91 per share. Buy at or below the central value $17.20 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:30:50.559Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 13.5% at the stated quote. About 13.5% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 4 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 2

- Operating margin variation: 1.28×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.05×

- FY2017: -0.83×

- FY2018: 1.45×

- FY2019: 1.00×

- FY2020: 0.72×

- FY2021: 1.15×

- FY2022: 0.30×

- FY2023: 0.48×

- FY2024: 0.15×

- FY2025: 0.48×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 24.7pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 3.9%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -0.3%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 24.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 57.8%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 33.0%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.0%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 3.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.3%

- FY2017: -6.1%

- FY2018: 5.5%

- FY2019: 8.2%

- FY2020: 2.4%

- FY2021: 9.3%

- FY2022: 2.8%

- FY2023: 6.0%

- FY2024: 1.9%

- FY2025: 5.1%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.70×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $335M

- Net income, five-year total: $476M

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 2.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 13.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 40.1%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 0.52×

- FY2022: 5.66×

- FY2023: -1.49×

- FY2024: 1.49×

- FY2025: 3.98×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2025 (8 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -0.3% vs 5.1%

- Per-share earnings: -1.40 to 0.72 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 5.0%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 12.9%

- Market cap gain: $378M

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$866M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 5.0%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 12.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $2.12

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$1.40

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.72

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.35

- Average buyback yield: 0.5%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $1.8M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $424M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -0.3%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 5.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$1.40

- FY2017: -$4.19

- FY2018: $1.00

- FY2019: $2.68

- FY2020: $0.83

- FY2021: $4.39

- FY2022: $0.48

- FY2023: $1.63

- FY2024: $0.72

- FY2025: $0.39

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -3.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.78×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 0.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 4.20×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -9.8%

- FY2017: -42.3%

- FY2018: -0.4%

- FY2019: -6.1%

- FY2020: 11.7%

- FY2021: 17.7%

- FY2022: 0.3%

- FY2023: -3.5%

- FY2024: 1.2%

- FY2025: -3.6%

## Holders

- [Howard Marks](https://gigainvestors.com/oc): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 48% since Jan 2022 · sales -17%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:18.751Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to shrink 4% a year for ten years

- 2026-08-11: OCSL Q2 Deep Dive: Margin Expansion Amid Lower Non-Accruals and Conservative Deployment ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/ocsl-q2-deep-dive-margin-015722304.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales -17%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm; observed 2025-11-18.

- FY2016: $248M 

- FY2017: $178M 

- FY2018: $57M 

- FY2019: $127M 

- FY2020: $52M 

- FY2021: $209M 

- FY2022: $263M 

- FY2023: $379M 

- FY2024: $382M 

- FY2025: $317M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 82.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm; observed 2025-11-18.

- FY2018: 99.8% 

- FY2022: 14.9% 

- FY2023: 33.0% 

- FY2024: 15.1% 

- FY2025: 82.5% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in asset management; annual sales are USD 316.8 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm#000141493225000022 (filed 2025-11-18); FY2025: revenue 316801000; grossProfit 261374000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); OCSL.US: Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation is a business development company. The fund specializing in investments in middle market, bridge financing, first and second lien debt financing, unsecured and mezzanine loan, mezzanine debt, senior and junior secured debt, expansions, sponsor-led acquisitions, preferred equity, and management buyouts in small and mid-sized companies. It seeks to invest in education services, business services, retail and consumer, healthcare, manufacturing, food and restaurants, construction and engineering. The firm also seeks investment in media, advertising sectors, software, IT services, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, real estate management and development, chemicals, machinery, and internet and direct marketing retail sectors. It invests between $5 million to $75 million principally in the form of one-stop, first lien, and second lien debt investments, which may include an equity co-investment component in companies. The firm invest in companies having enterprise value between $20 million and $150 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $50 million. The fund has a hold size of up to $75 million and may underwrite transactions up to $100 million. It primarily invests in North America. The fund seeks to be a lead investor in its portfolio companies.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 15.1% to 82.5% during 2023–25; it earns 3.9% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 33%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 15.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-18); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 82.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-0.003359286318443234],[2017,-0.06083498483274117],[2018,0.05534973824198083],[2019,0.08154437918394863],[2020,0.023641455804667318],[2021,0.09298778217516004],[2022,0.02814233073971277],[2023,0.05977838859344297],[2024,0.018872255625889376],[2025,0.05068868845172154]]; median 0.03941550959571716. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 10.7 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 164757000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 7440000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 22833000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 177649000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 122741000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 165471000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 86460000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-18); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; owner earnings 135149000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); Dividend observations: [[2016,100260000],[2017,62525000],[2018,54973000],[2019,52221000],[2020,53097000],[2021,79850000],[2022,115248000],[2023,180046000],[2024,176814000],[2025,148199000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-18); FY2025: cash repurchases 10666000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.3% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); OCSL.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.302 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-15.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits shrink 4% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-18); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.06897239520905035. Price 11.78; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -2.9648280312808444 → FY2025 1.5700577376595917. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-11: $16.11 per share

- 2016-12: $16.11 per share

- 2017-01: $16.32 per share

- 2017-02: $13.32 per share

- 2017-03: $13.86 per share

- 2017-04: $13.77 per share

- 2017-05: $12.27 per share

- 2017-06: $14.58 per share

- 2017-07: $15.90 per share

- 2017-08: $16.20 per share

- 2017-09: $16.41 per share

- 2017-10: $17.43 per share

- 2017-11: $14.46 per share

- 2017-12: $14.67 per share

- 2018-01: $14.82 per share

- 2018-02: $12.90 per share

- 2018-03: $12.63 per share

- 2018-04: $13.08 per share

- 2018-05: $14.76 per share

- 2018-06: $14.34 per share

- 2018-07: $14.73 per share

- 2018-08: $15.24 per share

- 2018-09: $14.88 per share

- 2018-10: $13.65 per share

- 2018-11: $14.28 per share

- 2018-12: $12.69 per share

- 2019-01: $14.64 per share

- 2019-02: $15.60 per share

- 2019-03: $15.54 per share

- 2019-04: $15.84 per share

- 2019-05: $15.96 per share

- 2019-06: $16.26 per share

- 2019-07: $15.99 per share

- 2019-08: $15.57 per share

- 2019-09: $15.54 per share

- 2019-10: $15.51 per share

- 2019-11: $15.90 per share

- 2019-12: $16.38 per share

- 2020-01: $16.80 per share

- 2020-02: $14.70 per share

- 2020-03: $9.72 per share

- 2020-04: $12.03 per share

- 2020-05: $13.59 per share

- 2020-06: $13.41 per share

- 2020-07: $13.59 per share

- 2020-08: $15.00 per share

- 2020-09: $14.52 per share

- 2020-10: $13.68 per share

- 2020-11: $16.83 per share

- 2020-12: $16.71 per share

- 2021-01: $16.68 per share

- 2021-02: $18.45 per share

- 2021-03: $18.60 per share

- 2021-04: $19.98 per share

- 2021-05: $20.22 per share

- 2021-06: $20.07 per share

- 2021-07: $20.37 per share

- 2021-08: $21.99 per share

- 2021-09: $21.18 per share

- 2021-10: $22.11 per share

- 2021-11: $22.08 per share

- 2021-12: $22.38 per share

- 2022-01: $22.59 per share

- 2022-02: $22.35 per share

- 2022-03: $22.11 per share

- 2022-04: $21.48 per share

- 2022-05: $20.82 per share

- 2022-06: $19.65 per share

- 2022-07: $21.12 per share

- 2022-08: $20.76 per share

- 2022-09: $18.00 per share

- 2022-10: $19.80 per share

- 2022-11: $21.54 per share

- 2022-12: $20.61 per share

- 2023-01: $20.01 per share

- 2023-02: $20.32 per share

- 2023-03: $18.77 per share

- 2023-04: $18.88 per share

- 2023-05: $18.71 per share

- 2023-06: $19.43 per share

- 2023-07: $20.41 per share

- 2023-08: $20.06 per share

- 2023-09: $20.12 per share

- 2023-10: $19.00 per share

- 2023-11: $20.00 per share

- 2023-12: $20.42 per share

- 2024-01: $21.18 per share

- 2024-02: $19.95 per share

- 2024-03: $19.66 per share

- 2024-04: $19.16 per share

- 2024-05: $19.52 per share

- 2024-06: $18.81 per share

- 2024-07: $18.03 per share

- 2024-08: $17.13 per share

- 2024-09: $16.31 per share

- 2024-10: $16.22 per share

- 2024-11: $16.34 per share

- 2024-12: $15.28 per share

- 2025-01: $16.00 per share

- 2025-02: $16.12 per share

- 2025-03: $15.36 per share

- 2025-04: $14.40 per share

- 2025-05: $14.63 per share

- 2025-06: $13.66 per share

- 2025-07: $13.83 per share

- 2025-08: $14.00 per share

- 2025-09: $13.05 per share

- 2025-10: $13.94 per share

- 2025-11: $13.80 per share

- 2025-12: $12.74 per share

- 2026-01: $12.32 per share

- 2026-02: $11.34 per share

- 2026-03: $11.30 per share

- 2026-04: $12.62 per share

- 2026-05: $11.96 per share

- 2026-06: $11.94 per share

- 2026-07: $11.61 per share

- 2026-08: $13.26 per share

- 2026-09: $11.90 per share

- 2026-10: $11.78 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2018: low $0.82 per share, central $0.89 per share, high $1.00 per share

- FY2019: low $12.05 per share, central $13.68 per share, high $15.84 per share

- FY2020: low $5.66 per share, central $6.33 per share, high $7.22 per share

- FY2021: low $17.34 per share, central $19.66 per share, high $22.76 per share

- FY2022: low $28.32 per share, central $32.57 per share, high $37.80 per share

- FY2023: low $43.70 per share, central $61.66 per share, high $72.12 per share

- FY2024: low $12.45 per share, central $14.07 per share, high $16.23 per share

- FY2025: low $18.01 per share, central $20.38 per share, high $23.53 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:36:34.640Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1414932/000141493225000022/ocsl-20250930.htm); period 2025-09-30, filed 2025-11-18.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.