Main Street Capital (MAIN) Competitors $58.15 +0.94 (+1.65%) Closing price 10/17/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$58.35 +0.20 (+0.34%) As of 10/17/2025 08:00 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestTrendsBuy This Stock MAIN vs. ARCC, CSWC, GLAD, MFIC, NMFC, PFLT, FSK, HTGC, OBDC, and TSLXShould you be buying Main Street Capital stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Main Street Capital include Ares Capital (ARCC), Capital Southwest (CSWC), Gladstone Capital (GLAD), MidCap Financial Investment (MFIC), New Mountain Finance (NMFC), PennantPark Floating Rate Capital (PFLT), FS KKR Capital (FSK), Hercules Capital (HTGC), Blue Owl Capital (OBDC), and Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector. Main Street Capital vs. Its Competitors Ares Capital Capital Southwest Gladstone Capital MidCap Financial Investment New Mountain Finance PennantPark Floating Rate Capital FS KKR Capital Hercules Capital Blue Owl Capital Sixth Street Specialty Lending Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) and Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation and profitability. Which has more volatility & risk, MAIN or ARCC? Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Capital has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Is MAIN or ARCC 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 Main Street Capital96.16% 12.70% 6.85% Ares Capital 44.94%10.48%5.00% Do analysts recommend MAIN or ARCC? Main Street Capital currently has a consensus target price of $60.40, suggesting a potential upside of 3.87%. Ares Capital has a consensus target price of $22.63, suggesting a potential upside of 15.97%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Main Street Capital.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Main Street Capital 0 Sell rating(s) 5 Hold rating(s) 2 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.29Ares Capital 0 Sell rating(s) 2 Hold rating(s) 8 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.80 Which has stronger earnings and valuation, MAIN or ARCC? 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioMain Street Capital$541.03M9.61$508.08M$6.079.58Ares Capital$2.99B4.60$1.52B$2.059.52 Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in MAIN or ARCC? 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Does the media favor MAIN or ARCC? In the previous week, Ares Capital had 5 more articles in the media than Main Street Capital. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Ares Capital and 14 mentions for Main Street Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Main Street Capital's score of 0.73 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Main Street Capital 3 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 7 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Ares Capital 15 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 1 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Is MAIN or ARCC a better dividend stock? Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.8%. Main Street Capital pays out 50.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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 has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. SummaryMain Street Capital beats Ares Capital on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Main Street Capital News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for MAIN and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Subscribe Now View SMS TermsBy entering your phone number and clicking the sign-up button, you agree to receive periodic text messages from MarketBeat at the phone number you submitted, including texts that may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will vary. Messages will consist of stock alerts, news stories, and partner advertisements/offers. Consent is not a condition of the purchase of any goods or services. Text HELP for help/customer support. Unsubscribe at any time by replying "STOP" to any text message that you receive from MarketBeat or by visiting our mailing preferences page. Read our full terms of service and privacy policy. New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MAIN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart MAIN vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricMain Street CapitalFIN IndustryFinance SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$5.12B$1.34B$12.51B$21.77BDividend Yield5.35%12.83%5.61%3.62%P/E Ratio9.5810.3032.5232.40Price / Sales9.6136.7529.6360.38Price / Cash14.019.4322.2424.37Price / Book1.830.832.234.59Net Income$508.08M$152.42M$1.02B$1.01B7 Day Performance5.47%2.22%0.27%1.32%1 Month Performance-12.04%-9.52%-2.45%-1.45%1 Year Performance11.10%-16.37%533.73%9.57% Main Street Capital Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)MAINMain Street Capital2.0731 of 5 stars$58.15+1.6%$60.40+3.9%+11.9%$5.12B$541.03M9.5890Analyst ForecastARCCAres Capital3.9551 of 5 stars$19.94+2.3%$22.63+13.5%-9.6%$14.05B$2.99B9.712,550Positive NewsAnalyst ForecastCSWCCapital Southwest3.2737 of 5 stars$20.19+0.2%$24.10+19.4%-20.4%$1.12B$204.44M12.2520News CoverageAnalyst ForecastGLADGladstone Capital3.4761 of 5 stars$20.150.0%$24.50+21.6%-22.9%$450.08M$96.62M5.9570Dividend CutAnalyst ForecastMFICMidCap Financial Investment2.8272 of 5 stars$11.83+1.1%$13.42+13.5%-12.8%$1.10B$301.78M10.95N/ANMFCNew Mountain Finance3.1932 of 5 stars$9.54+2.6%$10.50+10.1%-20.3%$1.01B$371.67M12.55N/APFLTPennantPark Floating Rate Capital3.6484 of 5 stars$8.80+0.3%$10.67+21.3%-27.5%$872.62M$89.89M6.28658Analyst ForecastFSKFS KKR Capital3.8011 of 5 stars$15.07+2.1%$17.75+17.8%-27.6%$0.00$1.72B19.31N/AHTGCHercules Capital3.5649 of 5 stars$17.39+1.5%$20.42+17.4%-14.1%$3.16B$493.59M11.51100Analyst ForecastAnalyst RevisionOBDCBlue Owl Capital3.6587 of 5 stars$12.85+2.8%$15.21+18.4%-16.4%$6.56B$1.60B8.51N/ANews CoverageShort Interest ↑TSLXSixth Street Specialty Lending3.3959 of 5 stars$21.94+1.2%$23.56+7.4%+3.8%$2.07B$482.53M10.91N/APositive News Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Ares Capital Competitors Capital Southwest Competitors Gladstone Capital Competitors MidCap Financial Investment Competitors New Mountain Finance Competitors PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Competitors FS KKR Capital Competitors Hercules Capital Competitors Blue Owl Capital Competitors Sixth Street Specialty Lending Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:MAIN) was last updated on 10/18/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersTrump Issues Surprise Emergency OrderIs This Stock the 'Next Nvidia'? 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