American Capital's Value Vexes Investors

Wilkus says transaction multiples have not fallen for the buyout deals it looks at. For instance, he says the troubled buyout of Home Depot's(HD) supply unit, which stoked the market's concerns about debt financing, is a poor proxy for American Capital's portfolio since his firm focuses on middle-market companies.

"What is happening with these large companies where suddenly a huge set of buyers has disappeared has not necessarily happened to the middle market, where frankly there are a thousand middle-market private firms that have still got plenty of capital to buy companies," Wilkus says.

Nonetheless, he admits writedowns could be coming."There may very well be depreciation," Wilkus says. "We'll find out at the end of the quarter."

Not everyone is so optimistic.

"The entire book value is stale and is not based on anything other than Houlihan," which is paid by American Capital, says one hedge fund short-seller of the stock.

At the end of the day, values may ultimately be driven by the performance of the underlying companies in which American Capital invests. As one of the most prolific originators of debt and equity finance over the past few years, American Capital may have very well made some poor investments.

"We believe even with ACAS' due diligence, low closing ratio, and near average debt-to-EBITDA multiples, the sheer volume of asset origination increases the probability that some bad apples have slipped through the company's origination platform," said Jefferies & Co. analyst Richard Shane in a recent research note, in which he cut the stock from buy to neutral.

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