Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL) Competitors $18.88 +0.16 (+0.85%) As of 07/1/2025 03:58 PM Eastern Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestTrendsBuy This Stock MSDL vs. MAIN, GBDC, HTGC, TSLX, GSBD, KBDC, NMFC, BCSF, BBDC, and TRINShould you be buying Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund include Main Street Capital (MAIN), Golub Capital BDC (GBDC), Hercules Capital (HTGC), Sixth Street Specialty Lending (TSLX), Goldman Sachs BDC (GSBD), Kayne Anderson BDC (KBDC), New Mountain Finance (NMFC), Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF), BARINGS BDC (BBDC), and Trinity Capital (TRIN). These companies are all part of the "fin - sbic&commrl" industry. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund vs. Its Competitors Main Street Capital Golub Capital BDC Hercules Capital Sixth Street Specialty Lending Goldman Sachs BDC Kayne Anderson BDC New Mountain Finance Bain Capital Specialty Finance BARINGS BDC Trinity Capital 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 companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, media sentiment and valuation. Does the media favor MAIN or MSDL? In the previous week, Main Street Capital had 17 more articles in the media than Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Main Street Capital and 1 mentions for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund. Main Street Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.36 beat Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's score of 0.00 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 6 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 7 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 0 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 1 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MAIN or MSDL? 20.3% of Main Street Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Which has preferable earnings & 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioMain Street Capital$541.03M9.76$508.08M$5.8910.07Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund$416.08M3.99$215.56M$2.188.66 Which has more volatility & risk, MAIN or MSDL? Main Street Capital has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share 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 share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Is MAIN or MSDL a better dividend stock? Main Street Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.6%. Main Street Capital pays out 50.9% 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 increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Do analysts recommend MAIN or MSDL? Main Street Capital presently has a consensus price target of $52.80, indicating a potential downside of 10.96%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.93%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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) 2.20Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 0 Sell rating(s) 4 Hold rating(s) 1 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.20 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 Capital94.61% 13.02% 6.95% Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund 47.65%11.80%5.70% SummaryMain Street Capital beats Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for MSDL and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MSDL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart MSDL vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricMorgan Stanley Direct Lending FundFIN IndustryFinance SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$1.65B$1.45B$12.00B$20.43BDividend Yield10.68%11.23%5.61%3.76%P/E Ratio8.6617.5319.9327.62Price / Sales3.9952.4425.6836.40Price / Cash7.6711.1421.1721.79Price / Book0.910.932.234.52Net Income$215.56M$144.88M$1.00B$984.47M7 Day Performance-1.20%1.28%2.04%2.61%1 Month Performance-3.28%0.29%3.57%4.99%1 Year Performance-13.55%-7.68%539.63%13.53% Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)MSDLMorgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund2.0165 of 5 stars$18.88+0.9%$20.00+5.9%-13.1%$1.65B$416.08M8.66N/AMAINMain Street Capital1.1203 of 5 stars$57.99-0.2%$52.80-8.9%+17.4%$5.17B$541.03M9.8590Dividend CutGBDCGolub Capital BDC2.3585 of 5 stars$14.25-2.5%$15.50+8.8%-7.2%$3.89B$724.68M12.61N/APositive NewsHigh Trading VolumeHTGCHercules Capital1.6937 of 5 stars$17.82-1.1%$19.92+11.8%-10.9%$3.16B$493.59M13.39100News CoverageAnalyst RevisionTSLXSixth Street Specialty Lending1.8684 of 5 stars$22.90-1.1%$22.81-0.4%+11.2%$2.18B$482.53M12.12N/AGSBDGoldman Sachs BDC1.0563 of 5 stars$11.43-0.9%$12.00+5.0%-25.5%$1.35B$434.37M25.39N/AKBDCKayne Anderson BDC1.8635 of 5 stars$15.57-2.0%$16.38+5.2%-3.2%$1.13B$213.11M8.65N/AHigh Trading VolumeNMFCNew Mountain Finance1.6898 of 5 stars$10.29-1.0%$10.67+3.7%-13.7%$1.12B$371.67M10.29N/ABCSFBain Capital Specialty Finance1.9783 of 5 stars$14.72-1.3%$16.50+12.1%-8.2%$967.84M$292.65M8.461,000BBDCBARINGS BDC2.3987 of 5 stars$8.95-1.2%$9.67+8.0%-5.8%$955.01M$286.17M9.5226Positive NewsTRINTrinity Capital2.1802 of 5 stars$14.18-0.6%$15.13+6.7%-0.1%$922.57M$237.69M6.4740 Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Main Street Capital Alternatives Golub Capital BDC Alternatives Hercules Capital Alternatives Sixth Street Specialty Lending Alternatives Goldman Sachs BDC Alternatives Kayne Anderson BDC Alternatives New Mountain Finance Alternatives Bain Capital Specialty Finance Alternatives BARINGS BDC Alternatives Trinity Capital Alternatives Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:MSDL) was last updated on 7/2/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersWhite House to reset Social Security?Elon Musk's parting DOGE gift looks set to shock America... 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