Reviewing Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) & byNordic Acquisition (NASDAQ:BYNO)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	54.89%	12.69%	6.52%
byNordic Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.9% of byNordic Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of byNordic Acquisition 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and byNordic Acquisition”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$257.79 million	7.05	$231.01 million	$2.55	8.03
byNordic Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and byNordic Acquisition, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	5	1	0	2.17
byNordic Acquisition	0	0	0	0	0.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus target price of $21.42, indicating a potential upside of 4.57%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than byNordic Acquisition.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats byNordic Acquisition on 7 of the 9 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 byNordic Acquisition

byNordic Acquisition Corporation does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the financial technology sector in Northern Europe. byNordic Acquisition Corporation was incorporated in 2019 and is based in Malmö, Sweden.