Capital Southwest (CSWC) Competitors

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

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, CSWC or MAIN?

Main Street Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Capital Southwest. Main Street Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capital Southwest, 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
Capital Southwest	$178.13M	6.73	$83.39M	$2.05	12.75
Main Street Capital	$500.39M	8.35	$428.45M	$5.48	8.90

Is CSWC or MAIN a better dividend stock?

Capital Southwest pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Capital Southwest pays out 111.2% 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 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the media refer more to CSWC or MAIN?

In the previous week, Main Street Capital had 7 more articles in the media than Capital Southwest. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Main Street Capital and 4 mentions for Capital Southwest. Capital Southwest's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Main Street Capital's score of 0.67 indicating that Capital Southwest is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Capital Southwest	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Main Street Capital	3 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CSWC or MAIN?

Main Street Capital received 160 more outperform votes than Capital Southwest when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.02% of users gave Capital Southwest an outperform vote while only 56.90% of users gave Main Street Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Capital Southwest	Outperform Votes 240 62.02%	Underperform Votes 147 37.98%
Main Street Capital	Outperform Votes 400 56.90%	Underperform Votes 303 43.10%

Is CSWC or MAIN more profitable?

Main Street Capital has a net margin of 89.11% compared to Capital Southwest's net margin of 46.81%. Capital Southwest's return on equity of 15.88% beat Main Street Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capital Southwest	46.81%	15.88%	7.67%
Main Street Capital	89.11%	14.83%	7.88%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CSWC or MAIN?

23.4% of Capital Southwest shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Capital Southwest 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate CSWC or MAIN?

Capital Southwest currently has a consensus price target of $25.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.41%. Main Street Capital has a consensus price target of $47.67, suggesting a potential downside of 2.22%. Given Main Street Capital's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Main Street Capital is more favorable than Capital Southwest.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capital Southwest	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Main Street Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more risk & volatility, CSWC or MAIN?

Capital Southwest has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Main Street Capital has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Main Street Capital beats Capital Southwest on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.