Main Street Capital (MAIN) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in ARCC or MAIN?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ares Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ARCC or MAIN more profitable?

Main Street Capital has a net margin of 89.25% compared to Ares Capital's net margin of 50.90%. Main Street Capital's return on equity of 13.83% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	50.90%	11.54%	5.50%
Main Street Capital	89.25%	13.83%	7.37%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital received 19 more outperform votes than Main Street Capital when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.69% of users gave Ares Capital an outperform vote while only 56.32% of users gave Main Street Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ares Capital	Outperform Votes 420 62.69%	Underperform Votes 250 37.31%
Main Street Capital	Outperform Votes 401 56.32%	Underperform Votes 311 43.68%

Which has better earnings & valuation, ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Main Street Capital. Main Street Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares 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	$1.49B	10.40	$1.52B	$2.05	10.87
Main Street Capital	$607.66M	8.53	$428.45M	$5.89	9.88

Does the media prefer ARCC or MAIN?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 5 more articles in the media than Main Street Capital. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Ares Capital and 3 mentions for Main Street Capital. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Main Street Capital's score of 0.30 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Main Street Capital	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

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 8.6%. Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. 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 50.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Main Street Capital has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer ARCC or MAIN?

Ares Capital presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.26%. Main Street Capital has a consensus target price of $52.80, suggesting a potential downside of 9.28%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities 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)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Main Street Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Summary

Ares Capital beats Main Street Capital on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.