Main Street Capital (MAIN) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is ARCC or MAIN more profitable?

Main Street Capital has a net margin of 96.16% compared to Ares Capital's net margin of 44.94%. Main Street Capital's return on equity of 12.70% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	44.94%	10.48%	5.00%
Main Street Capital	96.16%	12.70%	6.85%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ARCC or MAIN?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Main Street Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Main Street Capital. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Main Street Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ares Capital	$2.99B	4.75	$1.52B	$2.05	9.81
Main Street Capital	$623.14M	8.96	$508.08M	$6.07	10.28

Which has more volatility & risk, ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ARCC or MAIN a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.5%. Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Ares Capital pays out 93.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Main Street Capital pays out 50.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Main Street Capital has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to ARCC or MAIN?

In the previous week, Main Street Capital had 1 more articles in the media than Ares Capital. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Main Street Capital and 12 mentions for Ares Capital. Main Street Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.82 beat Ares Capital's score of 0.51 indicating that Main Street Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Main Street Capital	4 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital currently has a consensus target price of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 13.60%. Main Street Capital has a consensus target price of $61.20, indicating a potential downside of 1.92%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Main Street Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Main Street Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Summary

Main Street Capital beats Ares Capital on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.