Main Street Capital (MAIN) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NTRS or MAIN?

Main Street Capital received 1 more outperform votes than Northern Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 56.72% of users gave Main Street Capital an outperform vote while only 40.86% of users gave Northern Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northern Trust	Outperform Votes 400 40.86%	Underperform Votes 579 59.14%
Main Street Capital	Outperform Votes 401 56.72%	Underperform Votes 306 43.28%

Which has more risk & volatility, NTRS or MAIN?

Northern Trust has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NTRS or MAIN more profitable?

Main Street Capital has a net margin of 89.25% compared to Northern Trust's net margin of 12.77%. Main Street Capital's return on equity of 13.83% beat Northern Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northern Trust	12.77%	13.74%	1.03%
Main Street Capital	89.25%	13.83%	7.37%

Is NTRS or MAIN a better dividend stock?

Northern Trust pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Northern Trust pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Main Street Capital pays out 51.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Which has better valuation & earnings, NTRS or MAIN?

Northern Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Main Street Capital. Northern Trust 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
Northern Trust	$8.29B	2.13	$2.03B	$9.78	9.23
Main Street Capital	$601.25M	7.97	$428.45M	$5.84	9.26

Do analysts rate NTRS or MAIN?

Northern Trust currently has a consensus target price of $112.31, indicating a potential upside of 24.43%. Main Street Capital has a consensus target price of $52.25, indicating a potential downside of 3.39%. Given Northern Trust's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Northern Trust is more favorable than Main Street Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northern Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Main Street Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Do institutionals & insiders believe in NTRS or MAIN?

83.2% of Northern Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Northern Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Main Street Capital shares are held 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 refer more to NTRS or MAIN?

In the previous week, Northern Trust had 18 more articles in the media than Main Street Capital. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for Northern Trust and 11 mentions for Main Street Capital. Northern Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Main Street Capital's score of 0.73 indicating that Northern Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northern Trust	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 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

Summary

Northern Trust and Main Street Capital tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.