Cascade Acquisition (CAS) Competitors

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Cascade Acquisition (NYSE:CAS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, risk and earnings.

Is MSDL or CAS more profitable?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a net margin of 54.89% compared to Cascade Acquisition's net margin of 0.00%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's return on equity of 12.69% beat Cascade Acquisition's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	54.89%	12.69%	6.52%
Cascade Acquisition	N/A	-110.50%	5.13%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MSDL or CAS?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending received 7 more outperform votes than Cascade Acquisition when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 100.00% of users gave Cascade Acquisition an outperform vote while only 42.11% of users gave Morgan Stanley Direct Lending an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	Outperform Votes 8 42.11%	Underperform Votes 11 57.89%
Cascade Acquisition	Outperform Votes 1 100.00%	Underperform Votes No Votes

Which has more risk and volatility, MSDL or CAS?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cascade Acquisition has a beta of -0.06, suggesting that its share price is 106% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MSDL or CAS?

91.0% of Cascade Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.6% of Cascade Acquisition shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MSDL or CAS?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Cascade Acquisition.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$253.06M	7.04	$231.01M	$2.43	8.29
Cascade Acquisition	N/A	N/A	$15.04M	N/A	N/A

Do analysts recommend MSDL or CAS?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus price target of $21.38, indicating a potential upside of 6.13%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Cascade Acquisition.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Cascade Acquisition	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media prefer MSDL or CAS?

In the previous week, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had 2 more articles in the media than Cascade Acquisition. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and 2 mentions for Cascade Acquisition. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's average media sentiment score of 0.81 beat Cascade Acquisition's score of 0.00 indicating that Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cascade Acquisition	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Cascade Acquisition on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.