Earnings call transcript: Prospect Capital beats EPS forecast in Q1 2025

Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC) reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025, surpassing earnings per share (EPS) expectations while experiencing a slight dip in revenue compared to forecasts. The company reported an EPS of $0.17, beating the forecasted $0.11 by 54.55%, while revenue came in at $157.62 million, below the anticipated $164.88 million. The stock responded positively, with a 1.57% increase in premarket trading. This quarterly performance comes against a challenging backdrop, as InvestingPro data shows the company has not been profitable over the last twelve months, with a basic EPS of -$1.35 and annual revenue declining by 16.51%.

Key Takeaways

• EPS exceeded expectations by 54.55%, indicating strong financial performance.
• Revenue fell short of forecasts by 4.4%, raising some concerns.
• Stock price increased by 1.57% in premarket trading, reflecting investor optimism.
• Strategic focus on first lien senior secured loans continues to drive company strategy.
• Monthly shareholder distributions remain consistent, enhancing investor confidence.

Company Performance

Prospect Capital's focus on repositioning its business strategy towards first lien senior secured middle market loans appears to be paying off. The company has increased its first lien mix to 71.1% and reduced its exposure to riskier second lien and subordinated structured notes. This strategic shift, coupled with a focus on smaller companies with less than $50 million EBITDA, positions the company to capitalize on lower middle market opportunities.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $157.62 million, a slight decrease from the forecast.
• Earnings per share: $0.17, a significant increase from the forecast of $0.11.
• Net Investment Income: $79.4 million, or $0.17 per common share.
• Net Asset Value: $3 billion, or $6.45 per common share.
• Net debt to total assets ratio: 28.2%.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Prospect Capital reported an EPS of $0.17, significantly beating the forecasted $0.11 by 54.55%. However, revenue came in at $157.62 million, falling short of the expected $164.88 million, marking a 4.4% negative surprise. The strong EPS performance suggests effective cost management and operational efficiency.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings report, Prospect Capital's stock saw a 1.57% increase in premarket trading, reaching $2.59. This movement aligns with the positive EPS surprise and reflects investor confidence in the company's strategic direction. The stock remains within its 52-week range, with a high of $4.88 and a low of $2.52.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking forward, Prospect Capital plans to continue its focus on first lien senior secured loans and the sale of real estate properties. The company aims to maintain its emphasis on recession-resilient sectors and installment lending, potentially exiting appreciated equity-linked assets to optimize its portfolio.

Executive Commentary

Grier Eliasek, President and COO, emphasized the company's focus on smaller companies and the ability to generate 10-12% unlevered returns in the lower middle market. He stated, "We enjoy a very low cost of capital as a natural resting ground for financials," highlighting the company's competitive positioning.

Risks and Challenges

• Potential macroeconomic pressures could impact smaller market segments.
• Revenue shortfall may indicate challenges in market demand or competition.
• Strategic repositioning may limit exposure to high-risk, high-reward opportunities.
• Continued reliance on middle market lending exposes the company to sector-specific risks.
• Market volatility and interest rate changes could affect investment yields.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company's equity-linked rotation strategy and its rationale for maintaining investments in the financial sector. The discussion also highlighted the new Israeli bond issuance as a strategy for diversified funding.

Full transcript - Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC) Q1 2026:

Conference Operator: Today, and welcome to the Prospect Capital first fiscal quarter 2026 earnings release and conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to John Barry, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

John Barry, Chairman and CEO, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thank you, Danielle. Joining me on the call this morning are Grier Eliasek, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Kristin Van Dask, our Chief Financial Officer. Kristin?

Kristin Van Dask, Chief Financial Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thanks, John. This call contains forward-looking statements that are intended to be subject to safe harbor protection. Future results are highly likely to vary materially. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements. For additional disclosure, see our earnings press release and 10Q filed previously and available on our website, prospectstreet.com. Now I'll turn the call back over to John.

John Barry, Chairman and CEO, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thank you, Kristin. In the September quarter, our net investment income, or NII, was $79.4 million, or $0.17 per common share. Our net asset value was $3 billion, or $6.45 per common share. At September 30, our net debt to total assets ratio was 28.2%. Unsecured debt plus unsecured perpetual preferred was 80.8% of total debt plus preferred. We are announcing monthly common shareholder distributions of $0.045 per share for each of November, December, and January. Since our IPO 20 years ago, through our January 2026 declared distribution, we will have distributed over $4.6 billion, or $21.79 per share. Our preferred shareholder cash distributions continue at their contracted rates.

We continue to make progress repositioning our business, including rotation of assets into and increased focus on our core business of first lien senior secured middle market loans, with our first lien mix increasing 701 basis points to 71.1% from June 2024. We are focusing on new investments in companies with less than $50 million of EBITDA, including companies with smaller funded private equity sponsors, independent sponsors, and no third-party financial sponsors, where we see less competition, better returns, and more protection. Reduction in our second lien senior secured middle market loans, with our second lien mix decreasing 292 basis points to 13.5% from June 2024. Exit of our subordinated structured notes, with our subordinated structured notes mix decreasing 808 basis points to 0.3% from June 2024.

Exit of targeted equity-linked securities, including real estate, with three additional properties sold since July 1, 2025, and certain corporate investments, including the sale of significant assets within Echelon Transportation in July 2025, with remaining assets expected to be sold in the December 2025 quarter, with other exits targeted. Enhancement of portfolio company operations and greater utilization of our cost-efficient floating rate revolver, which largely matches our floating rate assets. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Grier.

Grier Eliasek, President and Chief Operating Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thank you, John. Over the past two decades, Prospect Capital Corporation has invested approximately $13 billion in nearly 400 exited investments, out of over $22 billion in nearly 500 total investments, that have earned a 12% unlevered investment level gross cash internal rate of return, or IRR, to Prospect Capital Corporation. This multi-decade time period includes the GFC and has been dominated in general by low prevailing market interest rates. As of September 2025, we held 92 portfolio companies across 32 different industries, with an aggregate fair value of $6.5 billion. We primarily focus on senior and secured debt, which was 85% of our portfolio at cost as of September. Our middle market lending strategy is the primary focus of our company, with such strategy as of September 2025 representing 85% of our investments at cost, an increase of 864 basis points from June of 2024.

In our middle market lending strategy, we've continued our focus on first lien senior secured loans during the quarter, with such investments totaling 81% of originations during the quarter. Investments during the quarter included a new investment in The Ridge, also known as Healthcare Venture Partners, a provider of healthcare services, and other follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies to support acquisitions, working capital needs, organic growth initiatives, and other objectives. We've substantially completed the exit of our subordinated structured notes portfolio as of September 2025, with such portfolio representing only 0.3% of our investment portfolio at cost, which represents a reduction of 808 basis points from 8.4% as of June 2024.

In our real estate property portfolio at National Property REIT Corp, or NPRC, which represented 14% of our investments at cost as of September 2025, and which is focused on developed and occupied cash-flowing multifamily investments, since the inception of this strategy in 2012 and through October 31, 2025, we have now exited 55 property investments that have earned an unlevered investment level gross cash IRR of 24% and cash-on-cash multiple of 2.4 times. We exited three property investments since June 2025 for approximately $59 million of net proceeds to Prospect Capital, and that earned an unlevered investment level gross cash IRR of 23% and cash-on-cash multiple of 2.3 times. The remaining real estate property portfolio includes 55 properties and paid us an income yield of 5.1% for the September quarter. Prospect's aggregate investments in NPRC included a $320 million unrealized gain as of September.

We expect to continue to redeploy future asset sale proceeds primarily into more first lien senior secured loans with selected equity-linked investments. Prospect's approach is one that generates attractive risk-adjusted yields and our performing interest-bearing investments were generating an annualized yield of 11.8% for the quarter-ended September. Our interest income in the September quarter was 97% of total investment income, reflecting a strong and high-quality recurring revenue profile for our business. Payment in kind income for the quarter-ended September 2025 was reduced by over 50% from the quarter-ended September 2024. Non-accruals as a percentage of total assets as of September stood at approximately 0.7% based on fair market value. Investment originations in the September quarter aggregated $92 million and were comprised of 72% middle market investments, with a significant majority of first lien senior secured loans.

We also experienced $235 million of repayments and exits as a validation of our capital preservation objective, resulting in net repayments of $143 million. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to Kristin. Kristin?

Kristin Van Dask, Chief Financial Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thanks, Grier. We believe our prudent leverage, diversified access to matched book funding, substantial majority of unencumbered assets, weighting toward unsecured fixed-rate debt, and avoidance of unfunded asset commitments all demonstrate balance sheet strength, as well as substantial liquidity to capitalize on attractive opportunities. Our company has locked in a ladder of liabilities extending 26 years into the future. On October 30, 2025, we successfully completed the institutional issuance of approximately $168 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured 5.5% notes due 2030, which mature on December 31, 2030. We expect to use the net proceeds of the offering primarily for the refinancing of existing indebtedness. Our unfunded eligible commitments to portfolio companies total approximately $36 million, of which $15 million are considered at our sole discretion, representing approximately 0.5% and 0.2% of our total assets as of September, respectively.

Our combined balance sheet cash and undrawn revolving credit facility commitments stood at $1.5 billion as of September, and we held $4.2 billion of our assets as unencumbered assets, representing approximately 63% of our portfolio. The remaining assets are pledged to Prospect Capital Funding, a non-recourse SPV. We currently have $2.12 billion of commitments from 48 banks, demonstrating strong support of our company from the lender community, with a diversity unmatched by any other company in our industry. The facility does not mature until June 2029 and revolves until June 2028. Our drawn pricing continues to be SOFR plus 2.05%. Outside of our revolver, we have access to diversified funding sources across multiple investor types and have successfully issued securities in an array of markets. Prospect has issued multiple types of unsecured debt, institutional non-convertible bonds, institutional convertible bonds, retail baby bonds, and retail program notes.

All of these types of unsecured debt have no financial covenants, no asset restrictions, and no cross-defaults with our revolver. We have tapped the unsecured term debt market on multiple occasions to ladder our maturities and to extend our liability duration out 26 years, with our debt maturities extending through 2052. With so many banks and debt investors across so many unsecured and non-recourse debt tranches, we have substantially reduced our counterparty risk. At September 30, 2025, our weighted average cost of unsecured debt financing was 4.54%. Now I'll turn the call back over to John.

John Barry, Chairman and CEO, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thank you, Kristin. We can take questions now.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. The first question comes from Finnion Oche from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Finnion Oche, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Hey, everyone. Good morning. I want to ask about the equity-linked rotation. You've made some good progress there as you sort of embark on that, but seeing if you can give us color on how far it goes and what are maybe the sacred cows within a lot of that's in the control book, particularly one area, consumer finance. You're still putting money in. Those companies are doing well. Is that sort of what's supposed to remain, and/or how much of the rest is sort of a candidate to move versus what you'd view as a strategic holding? Thanks.

Sure. I'll take that. Go ahead, John.

Grier Eliasek, President and Chief Operating Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: No, no. Please take it, Grier. Okay. So, Finnion, yes, we do like to make first lien and senior and secured loans to companies, and we do really increasing percentage of time like to have some portion of our paper as equity linked, ideally without a trade-off involved. The best type, of course, is penny warrants, the free type. The next best is convertible debt that is still senior and secured, has a cash pay coupon pledgeable to our facility, but then has ups as well. Then various types of convertible preferred that have coupons and liquidation preferences on top of third-party capital, all the way to some heads-up capital.

Our strategy is one of evaluating each investment in the book and looking at it on a foregone yield and foregone IRR, including giving effect to accretion through our roughly $200 secured credit facility for those foregone returns at a price that we think is actionable with a third-party purchaser in the market. That's the guidepost we use to make decisions to optimize the portfolio. What that leads us to is to look to divest over time, generally when you've had appreciated equity-linked assets, and we're looking forward, and maybe there's upside in the future, but not quite as much, and we're not foregoing as much. We're also paying careful attention to foregone yield as well, wanting to rotate and drive and optimize increased revenue, increased income for our business. The best candidate for that in our portfolio is real estate.

I mentioned we've sold 55 properties. We have another 50 or so to go. Returns on recent exits, sort of backward-looking, are fairly similar to the overall returns we've generated on the other 50 or so exits with IRRs in the low 20% and a multiple of invested capital, generally above two times cash on cash. The extant book, after giving effect within real estate to appreciation of value, is generating about a 5% income yield. That, of course, is much lower than what we can achieve in the market for new originations. We are focused on smaller companies, increasingly sub-$50 million EBITDA, and really sub-$25 million to $35 million, because there's so much competition in the upper middle market that has bid away spreads, that has bid away floors, that has bid away covenants, that has bid away earnings quality, that has bid away strong documents.

so many problems there that we intensely dislike. We are focused on the harder to originate, but well worth it when you do, smaller end. Our last dozen or so deals closed have had an average spread in the 700s compared to the upper middle market, which is decidedly with a four handle by comparison. We are getting much higher floors, generally above 300 basis points on those deals. Look at what is happening with short-term rates. We are down to about 375, and folks are cutting distributions out there and experiencing lower yields. What went up can and almost certainly will go down again from a floating rate perspective. We can put money out at, call it, 10-12% unlevered in the lower middle market.

We lever that in our S200 facility at a 50-60% advance rate, and we're talking about a 15% plus income yield return before giving effect to any equity-linked benefit. That 15%, of course, is vastly superior on an income yield perspective to the 5% I was quoting on real estate. We view that as an earnings powerhouse that we're unleashing through that rotation that we're pursuing. That doesn't mean we're going to dispose of the real estate portfolio liquidity split. We're doing so on a thoughtful, value-maximizing basis on a bottoms-up look at different geographies, different properties. We've concluded you maximize value by selling individual assets or smaller groups of assets as opposed to the whole. There's just a lot more buyers who can transact with individual assets as opposed to cut a multi-billion dollar check.

Usually, those guys look for significant bargains that we're not too interested in parting with. That is what's going on with real estate. We're seeing solid NOI growth. We've had about 7% NOI growth, and we're seeing tailwinds there as supply has diminished and look for us to continue to monetize assets in coming quarters. You have other assets on the corporate side. I'll divide that into non-financials and financials that you mentioned. We have a number of very successful non-financial deals where we have some equity linked positions that have appreciated significantly. Again, when you look at it on a foregone yield and IRR basis, we say, "Okay, we think it could make sense at the right price." The deal business is dynamic, and you never know exactly what the outcome will be. At the right price, there's a potential transaction there.

We've got various processes that are ongoing there, and we'll disclose that at the appropriate point should we find interesting exit points. Again, an unleashing of earnings power by rotating those appreciated assets into more and a diversified way of income-producing properties. In the financial book that you talked about, those are really, for the most part, long-term holds for multiple reasons. I mean, that doesn't mean we would say no if some huge outlier bid came along. We have substantial tax advantages that aren't enjoyed by other public companies because we're a BDC, we're a RIC, we pay no corporate taxes as long as, of course, we meet the regulatory requirements, which we have for our 20-plus year history and intend on continuing to do. We hold these financials as tax partnerships. There's no taxes at the underlying portfolio company level.

If these companies, say, First Tower, for example, were to become its own public company and it's large enough business that perhaps it could or could someday, it would need to be a corporate taxpayer under the regs, and that would be an erosion of value. Any potential buyer would keep that in mind for their eventual exit. We enjoy a very low cost of capital as a natural resting ground for financials. More important than that, we've had terrific success focusing on areas that are highly recurring and recession resilient. I'm talking about installment lending, which is what First Tower and Credit Central and our latest deal, which is QCHI, are all transacting. We do have a small auto book, very small. That's been a tougher business. That's a scale business.

It's less of a customer loyalty, recurring cash flow business because an automobile purchase is episodic. For these installment lenders, they're doing 50-75% plus of their business with current customers. There's a substantial loyalty element that grounds the business and really creates low volatility. As short-term rates are starting now to subside, that's a further tailwind for those businesses that utilize third-party ABL that's floating rate in nature. I think with Tower, something like every 100 basis point reduction in SOFR increases pre-tax net income by somewhere in the range of $5 million-$10 million. Of course, there's a valuation benefit from that as well. That's what we're after. We've made a lot of progress in the last year, Finnion. Exiting our structured credit book was a big part of that process.

That book had become low yielding on a GAAP basis as well. We are rotating and having great success with deals like The Ridge, deals like Verified Diagnostics, deals like Druid City and Discovery Point, Towse and QCHI as equity-linked deals have had substantial write-ups year to date since we closed each of them. The strategy is working well, and we are going to continue to execute on that game plan.

Finnion Oche, Analyst, Wells Fargo: I very appreciate that. A lot of color there. Just as a follow-up, progress as well on the liability front. Can you talk about the Israeli bond? Is that sort of a one-off or a new channel? If you anticipate or are planning more meaningful movements on the unsecured front? Thank you.

Grier Eliasek, President and Chief Operating Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Sure. It's a new channel. It's not a one-off. It's something we've evaluated for a very long time, and we thought the timing made sense for us. We've been utilizing our revolver to retire liabilities. We utilized our 48-bank-strong $2.1 billion revolver a few months ago to take out our first half of 2026 original issue $400 million bond and could utilize that as well for our next maturity, which isn't until the tail end of 2026. This was an interesting and strategic place to issue. We have strong relationships there. We've had institutional support from that market on other types of issuance and Prospect. It just made a lot of sense. Something like 40-plus institutional investors came into that bond. That's a decent-sized market. I think you'll see us on a thoughtful basis continue to expand our presence there.

That does not mean that is going to be our only source of financing. We are big, big believers in diversified financing. The fact that we have almost 50 banks in our facility shows we are not taking substantial counterparty risk, which can be problematic, especially in downturns. We saw that happen in the GFC with folks. That is a big reason why we were able to buy Patriot Capital, for example, and what happened to that business when we did the first BDC acquisition in history. Prospect, of course, created the bond market for BDCs. We are the first to issue convertible bonds going back to 2010 and then straight institutional bonds in 2012 and first and only to issue medium-term notes. We have been doing this for a very long time and are big believers in diversified access to funding.

We think that creates a strong credit profile for all, including, of course, equity investors that benefit from that diversified funding.

Finnion Oche, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Awesome. Thank you, everybody. Congrats on the quarter.

Grier Eliasek, President and Chief Operating Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thank you, Finnion.

Conference Operator: This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Barry for closing remarks.

Kristin Van Dask, Chief Financial Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Okay. Thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful day. Bye now.

Grier Eliasek, President and Chief Operating Officer, Prospect Capital Corporation: Thanks, all.

Conference Operator: The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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