Kayne Anderson BDC (KBDC) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate KBDC or MSDL?

Kayne Anderson BDC presently has a consensus price target of $17.30, indicating a potential downside of 0.57%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus price target of $21.63, indicating a potential upside of 4.47%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Kayne Anderson BDC.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kayne Anderson BDC	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Does the media refer more to KBDC or MSDL?

In the previous week, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending had 1 more articles in the media than Kayne Anderson BDC. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and 2 mentions for Kayne Anderson BDC. Kayne Anderson BDC's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's score of 0.91 indicating that Kayne Anderson BDC is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kayne Anderson BDC	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is KBDC or MSDL more profitable?

Kayne Anderson BDC has a net margin of 59.80% compared to Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's net margin of 54.89%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's return on equity of 12.69% beat Kayne Anderson BDC's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kayne Anderson BDC	59.80%	12.65%	6.77%
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	54.89%	12.69%	6.52%

Is KBDC or MSDL a better dividend stock?

Kayne Anderson BDC pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.2%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.7%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending pays out 78.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, KBDC or MSDL?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Kayne Anderson BDC.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kayne Anderson BDC	$161M	7.68	$77.07M	N/A	N/A
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$257.79M	7.11	$231.01M	$2.55	8.12

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in KBDC or MSDL?

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending received 3 more outperform votes than Kayne Anderson BDC when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.14% of users gave Kayne Anderson BDC an outperform vote while only 41.18% of users gave Morgan Stanley Direct Lending an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kayne Anderson BDC	Outperform Votes 4 57.14%	Underperform Votes 3 42.86%
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	Outperform Votes 7 41.18%	Underperform Votes 10 58.82%

Summary

Kayne Anderson BDC beats Morgan Stanley Direct Lending on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.