Analyzing Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (MSDL) and The Competition

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) is one of 654 publicly-traded companies in the “Holding & other investment offices” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Morgan Stanley Direct Lending to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its rivals’ 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	5.40%	-54.27%	2.53%

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 6.8% and pay out 63.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its rivals, as provided 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	121	549	836	14	2.49

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus target price of $21.58, suggesting a potential upside of 1.76%. As a group, “Holding & other investment offices” companies have a potential upside of 149.39%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

54.0% of shares of all “Holding & other investment offices” companies are owned by institutional investors. 25.5% of shares of all “Holding & other investment offices” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$367.74 million	$231.01 million	6.78
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Competitors	$1.27 billion	-$77.20 million	53.76

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s rivals 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 rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

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.