HomeCompareMAIN vs ARES

MAIN vs ARES: Dividend Comparison 2026

MAIN yields 7.09% · ARES yields 4.37%● Live data

vsPost on X →
After 10 years · $10,000 invested · DRIP enabled
🏆 ARES wins by $2881.69M in total portfolio value· pulled ahead in Year 5
10 years
MAIN
Main Street Capital Corporation
● Live price
7.09%
Share price
$51.65
Annual div
$3.66
5Y div CAGR
72.7%
Payout ratio
50%
After 10 yrs · $10,000 · DRIP
Portfolio value
$47.95M
Annual income
$40,208,699.11
Full MAIN calculator →
ARES
ARES
● Live price
4.37%
Share price
$107.66
Annual div
$4.71
5Y div CAGR
100%
Payout ratio
50%
After 10 yrs · $10,000 · DRIP
Portfolio value
$2929.64M
Annual income
$2,806,406,662.94
Full ARES calculator →

Portfolio growth — MAIN vs ARES

📍 ARES pulled ahead of the other in Year 5

Annual dividend income

🛡️

Recession Test — Did They Cut Dividends?

How each stock treated shareholders during the 3 biggest crises of the last 20 years

Crisis PeriodMAINARES
2008–2009
GFC
— No data— No data
2020 Q1–Q2
COVID
— No data— No data
2022 Q4
Rate Hike
— No data— No data
Based on dividend payment history. "Increased" = dividend grew during crisis. "Maintained" = held within 3%. "Cut" = reduced by more than 3%.
📅

Dividend Calendar Overlap

Combined, MAIN + ARES cover 0 of 12 monthsgood coverage

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
MAIN pays
ARES pays
Both pay
Neither
💰

Tax Bracket Optimizer

Which stock is actually better after tax? Adjust your rate to find out.

MAIN
Annual income on $10K today (after 15% tax)
$602.32/yr
After 10yr DRIP, annual income (after tax)
$34,177,394.24/yr
ARES
Annual income on $10K today (after 15% tax)
$371.87/yr
After 10yr DRIP, annual income (after tax)
$2,385,445,663.50/yr
At 15% tax rate, ARES beats the other by $2,351,268,269.26/year in after-tax income after 10 years on $10,000
⚖️

Lazy Portfolio Split Optimizer

What's the optimal mix of MAIN + ARES for your $10,000?

MAIN: 50%ARES: 50%
100% ARES50/50100% MAIN
Portfolio after 10yr
$1488.79M
Annual income
$1,423,307,681.03/yr
Blended yield
95.60%
📊

Analyst Conviction Gap

Where Wall Street is most bullish on ARES right now

MAIN
Analyst Ratings
2
Buy
11
Hold
Consensus: Hold
Price Target
$65.25
+26.3% upside vs current
Range: $60.00 — $70.00
Altman Z
1.7
Piotroski
5/9
ARES
Analyst Ratings
1
Strong
15
Buy
5
Hold
Consensus: Buy
Price Target
$179.25
+66.5% upside vs current
Range: $148.00 — $215.00
Altman Z
1.5
Piotroski
7/9
Analyst ratings via FMP. Altman Z-Score: >3.0 safe, 1.81–3.0 grey zone, <1.81 distress. Piotroski: 7–9 strong, 0–3 weak.
🏛️

Copy Congress — What Are Politicians Buying?

Senate & House STOCK Act disclosures (last 90 days)

MAIN buys
0
ARES buys
0
No recent congressional trades found for MAIN or ARES in the last 90 days.
STOCK Act mandates disclosure within 45 days of transaction. Data via FMP.Full tracker →
MetricMAINARES
Forward yield7.09%4.37%
Annual dividend / share$3.66$4.71
Payout ratio50%50%
1-year div growth0%0%
5-year div CAGR72.7%100%
Portfolio after 10y$47.95M$2929.64M
Annual income after 10y$40,208,699.11$2,806,406,662.94
Total dividends collected$46.82M$2920.90M
Payment frequencymonthlyquarterly
SectorBDCStock
Analyst consensusHoldBuy
Analyst price target$65.25$179.25

Year-by-year: MAIN vs ARES ($10,000, DRIP)

YearMAIN PortfolioMAIN Income/yrARES PortfolioARES Income/yrGap
1$12,464$1,223.78$11,575$874.98+$889.00MAIN
2$16,353$2,343.58$14,278$1,893.05+$2.1KMAIN
3$23,105$4,724.42$19,643$4,364.80+$3.5KMAIN
4$36,226$10,256.23$32,241$11,223.63+$4.0KMAIN
5← crossover$65,426$24,707.64$68,932$34,434.38$3.5KARES
6$142,101$68,562.02$211,368$137,610.38$69.3KARES
7$388,521$228,799.95$1,014,866$788,702.55$626.3KARES
8$1,397,868$961,169.80$8,164,206$7,078,299.39$6.77MARES
9$6,884,663$5,313,459.69$115,169,668$106,433,966.79$108.29MARES
10$47,947,060$40,208,699.11$2,929,638,207$2,806,406,662.94$2881.69MARES

MAIN vs ARES: Complete Analysis 2026

MAINBDC

Main Street Capital Corporation is a business development company specializes in equity capital to lower middle market companies. The firm specializing in recapitalizations, management buyouts, refinancing, family estate planning, management buyouts, refinancing, industry consolidation, mature, later stage emerging growth. The firm also provides debt capital to middle market companies for acquisitions, management buyouts, growth financings, recapitalizations and refinancing. The firm seeks to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provides one stop financing alternatives within its lower middle market portfolio. It prefers to invest in air freight and logistics, auto components, building products, chemicals, commercial services, computers, construction and engineering, consumer finance, consumer services, electronic equipment, energy equipment and services, financial services, health care equipment, health care providers, hotels, restaurants, and leisure, internet software and services, IT Services, machinery, oil, gas and consumable fuels, paper and forest products, professional and industrial services, road and rail, software, specialty retail, telecommunication, consumer discretionary, energy, materials, technology, and transportation. The firm typically invests in lower middle market companies generally with annual revenues between $5 million and $300 million. It prefers to invest in ranging between $2 million and $75 million in equity investment and enterprise value in ranging between $3 million and $20 million. The firm typically prefers to invest in the range of $5 million and $50 million per transaction in debt investment value and in the range of $1 million and $20 million in annual EBITDA. The firm's middle market debt investments are made in businesses that are generally larger in size than its lower middle market portfolio companies. It takes 5 percent minority and up to 50 percent majority equity investments. Main Street Capital Corporation was founded in 2007 and is based in Houston, Texas with an additional office in Chojnów, Poland.

Full MAIN Calculator →

ARESStock

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets. Its Direct Lending Group segment provides financing solutions to small-to-medium sized companies. The company's Private Equity Group segment focuses on majority or shared-control investments primarily in under-capitalized companies. Its Real Estate Group segment invests in new developments and the repositioning of assets, with a focus on control or majority-control investments; and originates and invests in a range of self-originated financing opportunities for middle-market owners and operators of commercial real estate. The firm was previously known as Ares Management, L.P. Ares Management Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ares Management GP LLC is the general partner of the company.

Full ARES Calculator →
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⚠️ Educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Congressional trades sourced from SEC STOCK Act filings via FMP. Past performance does not guarantee future results.