3 Predictions for This Week: Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. (FGP), Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN)

3. Main Street Capital will beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates
Some stocks are just flat-out better than others.

When it comes to business development companies, Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN) has been a strong performer. Shares soared 44% last year, and that’s before tacking on the company’s healthy stream of monthly dividends. Investors have been hopping on BDCs — which lend money to cash-hungry companies in exchange for healthy interest rates and occasionally some equity — and then return at least 90% of their proceeds to their investors.

Another thing Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN) does is make analysts look like perpetual underachievers. If analysts say the company posted a profit of $0.49 a share in its latest quarter, I’ll whip out a “greater than” sign. History’s on my side!

One of my best tricks to beating the market is finding stocks that perpetually land ahead of the prognosticators. Let’s go over the past year of earnings reports.

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Things can change, of course. Despite a diversified portfolio, companies do default on their financing from time to time. A peer of Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN) also pointed out a few days ago that the climate for finding new opportunities to put money at work with strong risk-adjusted returns is challenging. Central bank policies have gotten aggressive, and that’s encouraging riskier behavior in the credit markets at a time when investors are starving for high yields.

However, the climate still appears to be a good one for Main Street Capital. Everything seems to be falling into place for another market-thumping quarter on the bottom line.

The article 3 Predictions for Next Week originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rick Aristotle Munarriz.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends priceline.com and owns shares of priceline.com and Sturm, Ruger.

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