BX vs OBDC: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: OBDC is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. BX and OBDC share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined BX and OBDC exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Blackstone Inc. is the world's largest alternative asset manager, investing on behalf of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurers, endowments, and increasingly individual investors. It runs money across several major strategies: real estate (historically its largest), private equity, credit and insurance, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries, and hedge fund solutions. The business model has two engines. First, it earns recurring management fees on the capital it manages, which produces relatively stable fee-related earnings and grows as assets under management climb. Second, it earns performance fees (carried interest and incentive fees) when its funds generate strong returns, which are lumpier and depend on realizations and market conditions. Because most of its capital is locked up in long-dated funds, Blackstone has durable, contracted fee streams, and it distributes a large share of its distributable earnings to shareholders as a variable quarterly dividend rather than a fixed one.

Full BX guide

Blue Owl Capital Corporation is a specialty finance company structured as a business development company, listed on the NYSE since July 2019 and externally managed by Blue Owl Credit Advisors, an arm of Blue Owl Capital (NYSE: OWL). It originates and holds loans to private U.S. companies that are generally too large for the smallest BDCs and too private for the public bond market. As of June 30, 2026, the portfolio held investments in 229 companies across 30 industries at an aggregate fair value of ~$15.0 billion, with an average position of ~$65 million. First-lien senior secured debt made up ~73% of the book and ~96% of debt investments carried floating rates, which ties income directly to SOFR. In January 2025 the company absorbed Blue Owl Capital Corporation III in a stock merger, issuing ~120.6 million shares, and a separate proposed combination with Blue Owl Capital Corporation II was terminated in November 2025.

Full OBDC guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• BX drivers: Growth of assets under management; Private wealth and retail channel.
• OBDC drivers: Floating-rate income against a falling base rate; Balance sheet repositioning.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Blackstone's risks stem from its market-linked, cyclical model. For OBDC, credit quality is the central exposure: investments on non-accrual represented 2.8% of the portfolio at cost and 0.8% at fair value as of June 30, 2026, up from 2.0% at cost in the prior quarter, and NAV per share has declined from ~$15.03 to ~$14.26 over the past year on markdowns of a small number of borrowers.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick BX if you believe its drivers more; OBDC if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the BX and OBDC guides.

BX. These figures are qualitative and approximate as of the asOf date, not precise real-time numbers. Because performance fees and the variable dividend move with realizations and markets, quarterly results can be uneven. Confirm live AUM, revenue, fee-related earnings, dividend, and valuation before acting.

OBDC. Standard equity multiples do not describe a BDC well, because the balance sheet is the business and earnings are largely interest income passed through to shareholders. The two anchors are the discount to book (~0.81 times NAV) and the coverage ratio between net investment income and the declared dividend, which returned to a comfortable margin after the second-quarter base cut. GAAP net investment income of $0.36 per share in the second quarter sat above the $0.33 declared, while realized and unrealized losses of $0.22 per share explain why NAV still fell.

Headline figures (approximate, Jul 2026): BX shows assets under management More than $1.3 trillion as of early 2026, the largest of any alternative asset manager, after record inflows (roughly $70 billion in a recent quarter), revenue trend Full-year 2025 revenue was about $14.5 billion, up roughly $1.2 billion year over year; management and advisory fees were about $8.1 billion, profitability Emphasizes fee-related earnings (recurring management fees) as the stable core, with performance fees (carried interest) adding lumpier upside tied to realizations, capital returns Pays a variable quarterly dividend tied to distributable earnings (not a fixed rate) plus buybacks, so the payout rises and falls with results; OBDC shows total investment income (ttm) ~$1.70B, net investment income (ttm) ~$727M (~$1.44 per share), nav per share (june 30, 2026) ~$14.26, price to nav ~0.81x (shares near ~$11.50).

BX and OBDC are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined BX and OBDC exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.