Comparing Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (MSDL) & Its Rivals

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) is one of 677 public companies in the “Holding & other investment offices” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Morgan Stanley Direct Lending to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$367.74 million	$231.01 million	6.82
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Competitors	$1.09 billion	-$59.88 million	45.06

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Morgan Stanley Direct Lending. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	3	3	0	2.50
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Competitors	122	567	882	14	2.50

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus price target of $21.58, indicating a potential upside of 1.14%. As a group, “Holding & other investment offices” companies have a potential upside of 101.67%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending pays out 63.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Holding & other investment offices” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.2% and pay out 71.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	62.81%	11.51%	5.99%
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Competitors	-34.70%	-44.81%	-0.04%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

53.7% of shares of all “Holding & other investment offices” companies are held by institutional investors. 25.4% of shares of all “Holding & other investment offices” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Company Profile

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is a business development company. It is a non-diversified, externally managed specialty finance company focused on lending to middle-market companies. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is based in NEW YORK.