byNordic Acquisition (NASDAQ:BYNO) and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) Head to Head Contrast

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.9% of byNordic Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of byNordic Acquisition shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and byNordic Acquisition”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$367.74 million	4.93	$231.01 million	$2.55	8.01
byNordic Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and byNordic Acquisition, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	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 price target of $21.42, indicating a potential upside of 4.83%. 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.

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.