Stocks · Financial Services · Asset Management
Hercules Capital Inc HCXY
$24.91 -0.16% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $3.07B
Strong growth
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin widened to 75.3% from 59.9% a year earlier.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $579.8M, up 33.9% from a year earlier, slowing from 41.2% a quarter earlier.
- Net debt is 5.3× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 12%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 33%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 14%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 20%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 16%
- Gross marginTop 6%
- Operating marginTop 2%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 21%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 5%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 24%
- Interest coverTop 22%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 38%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 26%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 40%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 11%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 30%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 26%
- 6-month returnBottom 23%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 32%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 14%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 9%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 32%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 42%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 17%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 16%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 15%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 24%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 41.2% | 33.9% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 33.1% | 31.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 80.8% | 89.9% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 59.9% | 75.3% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | -70.1% | 1.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 33.9% | 41.2% | ↓ | Top 12% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 31.8% | 33.1% | ↓ | Top 33% |
| Gross margin | 89.9% | 80.8% | ↑ | Top 6% |
| Operating margin | 75.3% | 59.9% | ↑ | Top 2% |
| Net margin | 66.1% | 59.9% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 1.5% | -70.1% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.3% | — | Top 16% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 31.7% | — | Top 14% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.02×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 8.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -28.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.27×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 4.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 10.99%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -2.04%
- Shareholder yield
- 8.95%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +4.6%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +12.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +0.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | +3.1% | -0.2% | +1.6% | +1.3% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +0.5% | +0.0% | -0.1% | +0.4% | -0.9% |
| Feb 12, 2026 | -2.5% | +0.2% | +1.5% | +0.3% | -1.9% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +2.1% | -0.2% | +0.8% | +0.0% | -0.0% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | +6.2% | +0.0% | -0.6% | +0.9% | +0.4% |
| May 1, 2025 | -3.1% | +1.0% | +0.8% | +0.4% | +0.4% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | -2.6% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.4% | +0.0% |
| Oct 30, 2024 | -0.2% | +0.2% | -0.6% | -0.2% | -2.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $0.50 | $0.48 | +3.1% | $149.1M |
| May 5, 2026 | $0.48 | $0.48 | +0.5% | $141.5M |
| Feb 12, 2026 | $0.48 | $0.49 | -2.5% | $137.4M |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $0.49 | $0.48 | +2.1% | $138.1M |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $0.50 | $0.47 | +6.2% | $137.5M |
| May 1, 2025 | $0.45 | $0.46 | -3.1% | $119.5M |
| Feb 13, 2025 | $0.49 | $0.50 | -2.6% | $121.8M |
| Oct 30, 2024 | $0.51 | $0.51 | -0.2% | $125.2M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 12.5× | 14.1× | 33th | Top 38% |
| P/E (forward) | 12.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.3× | — | — | Top 40% |
| EV / Sales | 9.26× | — | — | Bottom 11% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 0.27% | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| Earnings yield | 7.99% | — | — | Top 38% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 9.3× – 227.6× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -1.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +31.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -25.5%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -0.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -0.6%
- RSI (14)
- 45.5
- Relative volume
- 4.62×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 6.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 2th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.06
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.16
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -3.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -5.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 2021 | Oct 21, 2022 | -21.0% | 321 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $3.07B
- P/E (TTM)
- 12.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.99
- Revenue (TTM)
- $579.8M
- Dividend yield
- 7.84%
- 52-week range
- $24.36 – $25.71
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $309.6M | $239.4M | $494.1M | $430.9M | $547.1M |
| Gross profit | $255.1M | $184.6M | $426.5M | $353.7M | $477.3M |
| Operating income | $174.2M | $102.1M | $337.5M | $263.0M | $365.2M |
| Net income | $174.2M | $102.1M | $337.5M | $263.0M | $339.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.49 | $0.79 | $2.31 | $1.61 | $1.85 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $110.8M | $102.2M | $92.4M | $127.6M | $169.3M | $157.7M | $95.9M | $156.8M |
| Net income | $68.7M | $61.4M | $50.3M | $78.9M | $119.7M | $90.8M | $42.5M | $130.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.42 | $0.37 | $0.29 | $0.43 | $0.63 | $0.48 | $0.23 | $0.65 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $128.6M | -$424.8M | $68.3M | -$118.1M | -$425.8M |
| Capital expenditure | -$106,000 | -$114,000 | -$887,000 | -$705,000 | -$89,000 |
| Free cash flow | $128.5M | -$424.9M | $67.4M | -$118.8M | -$425.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$145.4M | -$169.3M | -$273.7M | -$303.5M | -$276.1M |
| Net share buybacks | -$2.8M | -$4.5M | $331.6M | $217.4M | -$6.5M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $48.2M
- Total assets
- $4.69B
- Total liabilities
- $2.41B
- Total debt
- $2.35B
- Net debt
- $2.30B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.27B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.39 | Oct 30, 2026 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | $0.39 | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.39 | Apr 30, 2026 |
| Jan 15, 2026 | $0.39 | Jan 30, 2026 |
| Oct 15, 2025 | $0.39 | Oct 30, 2025 |
| Jul 15, 2025 | $0.39 | Jul 30, 2025 |
| Apr 15, 2025 | $0.39 | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Jan 15, 2025 | $0.39 | Jan 30, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 10,884
- Days to cover
- 5.22
- Change vs previous report
- -8.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.