bleuacacia (NASDAQ:BLEU) versus Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Financial Survey

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and bleuacacia (NASDAQ:BLEU) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.9% of bleuacacia shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of bleuacacia shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and bleuacacia’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$275.66 million	6.44	$231.01 million	$3.10	6.41
bleuacacia	N/A	N/A	$3.86 million	N/A	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than bleuacacia.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and bleuacacia, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	5	1	0	2.17
bleuacacia	0	0	0	0	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus target price of $21.42, suggesting a potential upside of 7.78%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than bleuacacia.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	62.34%	12.87%	6.39%
bleuacacia	N/A	-6.04%	4.62%

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats bleuacacia on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending

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.

About bleuacacia

bleuacacia ltd does not have significant operations. The company focuses on effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or related business combination with one or more businesses. It intends to identify business opportunities in the field of premium branded consumer retail. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in New York, New York.