BDCs are well-positioned to handle Fed policies and recession

Mickey Schleien, managing director for equity research at Ladenburg Thalmann and Co, says that business-development companies have seen the rising interest-rate environment lead to higher yields, which has helped to offset declines in net asset value that BDCs have suffered as a result of the Federal Reserve's tightening monetary policy. He says that middle market companies have seen revenues and earnings grow about 11 percent at the start of this year, without endangering their distribution or suffering through a lot of defaults. Schleien says that BDCs have managed credit trends well enough to now represent an attractive opportunity even as the economy heads toward a recession and despite the sector broadly being fully valued.