Critical Review: Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and byNordic Acquisition (NASDAQ:BYNO)

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

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
byNordic Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$257.79 million	7.00	$231.01 million	$2.55	7.97

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for byNordic Acquisition and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus price target of $21.42, suggesting a potential upside of 5.35%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than byNordic Acquisition.

Profitability

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

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.9% of byNordic Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of byNordic Acquisition shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats byNordic Acquisition on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.