Thanaphum Tachakanjanapong/iStock via Getty Images Like so many other private credit platforms, Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. ( CGBD ) has suffered a significant down-rating of its share price and a compression of its valuation factor amid surging concerns about SaaS loans and capital outflows from the business development company, or BDC, sector. This change in investor sentiment and the resulting...
Thanaphum Tachakanjanapong/iStock via Getty Images Like so many other private credit platforms, Carlyle Secured Lending Inc. ( CGBD ) has suffered a significant down-rating of its share price and a compression of its valuation factor amid surging concerns about SaaS loans and capital outflows from the business development company, or BDC, sector. This change in investor sentiment and the resulting repricing of private credit companies has made all BDCs more attractive from a price-to-value point of view, in my opinion. Carlyle Secured Lending is currently priced at a P/NAV ratio of 0.66X, revealing a potential mispricing that investors can exploit to their benefit. While Carlyle Secured Lending faces a risk of another dividend reset in 2026 amid challenges to NII coverage, I believe a speculative Buy position could be justified nonetheless, as the BDC's valuation implies a high safety margin. Data by YCharts First Lien-Focused BDC Play With Limited SaaS Exposure Carlyle Secured Lending is heavily oriented towards first liens... which represented approximately 84% of the private credit company’s investment portfolio as of the end of Q4 '25. In addition, the private credit pool made a small number of investments in second liens, equity investments, and investment funds that made up a combined 16% of portfolio assets. Carlyle Secured Lending Carlyle Secured Lending has been able to grow its portfolio by 37% in the last year to $2.5B, mainly due to robust demand for new debt capital as well as the 2024 merger with Carlyle Secured Lending III (CSL III). Most importantly, however, the BDC has suffered an increase in non-performing loans in its core middle market portfolio: the non-accrual ratio, based off of fair value, increased a massive 100% year-over-year to 1.2% in the fourth quarter. The non-accrual percentage is therefore about on the same level as the non-accrual ratios of Ares Capital ( ARCC ), 1.2%, and Blue Owl Capital ( OBDC ), 1.1%. Portfolio, Non-Accrual Tre...
Donald Trump’s reversals accelerated on Monday amid the widening war begun by the US and Israel a month ago. The 79-year-old president oscillated between threats of further destruction of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and unconfirmed claims of peace negotiations . All the while, the two attacking countries continued to bomb Iran and Lebanon, with thousands already killed and tens of thousands wou...
Donald Trump’s reversals accelerated on Monday amid the widening war begun by the US and Israel a month ago. The 79-year-old president oscillated between threats of further destruction of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and unconfirmed claims of peace negotiations . All the while, the two attacking countries continued to bomb Iran and Lebanon, with thousands already killed and tens of thousands wounded, according to local authorities and United Nations-afiliated groups. The Houthis in Yemen joined Hezbollah in attacking Israel over the weekend , further expanding a conflict that increasingly centers on the Strait of Hormuz and limited tanker traffic there, thanks to Iran’s stranglehold on the waterway . Meanwhile, Brent crude hovered around $114 a barrel. If the Houthis start attacking Red Sea shipping again, it could hit $140 . In the US, rising gasoline prices added to ongoing complaints of an affordability crisis. It was a prominent issue for the millions of protesting Americans seeking Trump’s removal from office. What You Need to Know Today Those “No Kings” protests this weekend, held in hundreds if not thousands of cities and towns, included more than 8 million people, organizers said . If true, that would mean close to 2.5% of Americans turned out. It would also mean, organizers said, that it was the biggest mass demonstration in the country’s 250-year history. Protests against Trump and his policies also were simultaneously held in cities in Europe . The focus of the US demonstrations was on the killings of three unarmed American citizens by immigration agents and the administration’s deportation campaign, as well as its war with Iran and a host of other issues Trump opponents associate with increasing authoritarianism. S&P 500 Nears Correction With No End to War in Sight US equities did an about-face Monday, deepening a selloff that spurred the longest weekly losing streak since 2022 amid fears of escalation. Read more When it comes to collateral damage from...
The latest power-bank restriction on air travellers comes less than a month after a major nighttime crash and rescue drill at Hong Kong airport in which an airliner’s take-off was aborted after smoke was reported coming from a passenger’s power bank. But that was a simulation, involving more than 1,000 personnel plus hundreds of volunteers, aimed at optimising airport emergency response. There was...
The latest power-bank restriction on air travellers comes less than a month after a major nighttime crash and rescue drill at Hong Kong airport in which an airliner’s take-off was aborted after smoke was reported coming from a passenger’s power bank. But that was a simulation, involving more than 1,000 personnel plus hundreds of volunteers, aimed at optimising airport emergency response. There was therefore no connection with the ban imposed without warning by the Airport Authority on Saturday...
Rajasthan Royals opener hits third 50-plus score of his IPL career Coaches told youngster ‘to read the situation well and back my game’ Days after turning 15, Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi found a perfect way to celebrate, tearing to a 15-ball half-century in a commanding eight-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. Sooryavanshi, who lit up his debut s...
Rajasthan Royals opener hits third 50-plus score of his IPL career Coaches told youngster ‘to read the situation well and back my game’ Days after turning 15, Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi found a perfect way to celebrate, tearing to a 15-ball half-century in a commanding eight-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. Sooryavanshi, who lit up his debut season with a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans last year, took only 15 balls to smash his first fifty of the season – the third fifty-plus score of his eight-match IPL career so far. Continue reading...
Earnings Call Insights: HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Richard Hermanns opened the call by acknowledging persistent macro challenges in the staffing industry but emphasized, "we remain solidly profitable and executed well in 2025." Hermanns outlined a major strategic development: "we announced our strategic decision to change the ownership structure of MRI network by divesting t...
Earnings Call Insights: HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Richard Hermanns opened the call by acknowledging persistent macro challenges in the staffing industry but emphasized, "we remain solidly profitable and executed well in 2025." Hermanns outlined a major strategic development: "we announced our strategic decision to change the ownership structure of MRI network by divesting the permanent placement piece of the business into a new entity in transitioning majority ownership to a newly formed leadership group made up of current and former franchise owners." He described this move as aligning MRI’s leadership with those "who live its mission every day," while HireQuest retains partial ownership and continues operating the contract staffing segment. Hermanns announced a share repurchase program: "HireQuest Board of Directors had approved a share repurchase program that authorizes the company to repurchase up to $20 million of its outstanding shares of common stock." He stated, "We believe that a share repurchase program is currently an efficient use of our capital, reflects our commitment to prudent capital management and deployment and reinforces the confidence that the Board and management team have in HireQuest long-term strategy while also returning capital to our shareholders." The CEO highlighted findings from a survey of over 400 offices, noting that "68% of offices surveyed set time to fill for open rolls steadied in 2025, while 35% saw increases," suggesting market stability. He also observed, "61% of recruiters expect the time to fill to remain stable in 2026, while 15% expect improvement as candidate supply normalizes." CFO C. Hartley reported, "Total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $7 million compared with revenue of $8.1 million in the prior year, a decrease of 13%. For the full year, total revenue was $30.6 million compared to $34.6 million in 2024." Hartley further broke down the revenue drivers and expense controls, noting,...
Earnings Call Insights: Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited (OXBR) Q4 2025 Management View Sanjay Madhu, Chairman, President & CEO, highlighted significant progress in bringing reinsurance on chain and broadening investor access. He stated, "We are proud of the significant steps we have taken to fortify and innovate our business by bringing reinsurance on chain and broadening investor access." Madhu emph...
Earnings Call Insights: Oxbridge Re Holdings Limited (OXBR) Q4 2025 Management View Sanjay Madhu, Chairman, President & CEO, highlighted significant progress in bringing reinsurance on chain and broadening investor access. He stated, "We are proud of the significant steps we have taken to fortify and innovate our business by bringing reinsurance on chain and broadening investor access." Madhu emphasized Oxbridge's disciplined underwriting focus on low frequency, high severity risk, supported by full collateralization and rigorous data analysis. He described SurancePlus as a key platform expanding compliant and scalable access to reinsurance as a real-world asset, mentioning, "SurancePlus continues to expand our ability to bring reinsurance on chain in a compliant and scalable manner, broadening access to an asset class that has historically been limited to institutional partnerships." Madhu further announced expansion into the Solana ecosystem and broader blockchain distribution enabled by Layer 0 through Alphaledger, stating these developments position SurancePlus within leading blockchain environments for real-world asset adoption. Wrendon Timothy, CFO, reported, "Net premiums earned for the 3 months ended December 31, 2025, decreased to $555,000 from $595,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2024...Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, was $120,000 or $0.02 per basic and diluted income per share compared to a net loss of $460,000 or $0.05 basic and diluted loss per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2024." Madhu also revealed, "The balance yield token is tracking 25% ahead of its 20% target, and the high-yield token is tracking its 42% target." He announced plans to target returns of 20% and 42% for the T20 and T42 offerings in the 2026-2027 contract cycle, and discussed exploring tokenization of data center revenue streams linked to AI growth. Outlook Oxbridge is targeting returns of 20% and 42% for its T20 and T42 tokenized reinsurance off...