Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL) Competitors

Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has better earnings and valuation, MAIN or MSDL?

Main Street Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Main Street Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Main Street Capital	$541.03M	10.60	$508.08M	$5.89	10.93
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	$416.08M	4.11	$215.56M	$2.18	8.91

Is MAIN or MSDL more profitable?

Main Street Capital has a net margin of 94.61% compared to Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's net margin of 47.65%. Main Street Capital's return on equity of 13.02% beat Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Main Street Capital	94.61%	13.02%	6.95%
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	47.65%	11.80%	5.70%

Is MAIN or MSDL a better dividend stock?

Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Main Street Capital pays out 52.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund pays out 91.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Main Street Capital has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to MAIN or MSDL?

In the previous week, Main Street Capital had 15 more articles in the media than Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Main Street Capital and 3 mentions for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund. Main Street Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's score of 0.44 indicating that Main Street Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Main Street Capital	7 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer MAIN or MSDL?

Main Street Capital currently has a consensus target price of $53.60, suggesting a potential downside of 16.76%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a consensus target price of $20.10, suggesting a potential upside of 3.45%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is more favorable than Main Street Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Main Street Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Which has more volatility & risk, MAIN or MSDL?

Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MAIN or MSDL?

20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Main Street Capital beats Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.