Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL – Get Free Report) and PowerUp Acquisition (NASDAQ:PWUP – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
19.2% of PowerUp Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 48.0% of PowerUp Acquisition shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and PowerUp Acquisition’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending | 62.34% | 12.87% | 6.39% |
PowerUp Acquisition | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Analyst Recommendations
Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.17 |
PowerUp Acquisition | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus target price of $21.92, indicating a potential upside of 9.04%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than PowerUp Acquisition.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and PowerUp Acquisition’s gross 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 | 4.91 | $231.01 million | $3.10 | 6.52 |
PowerUp Acquisition | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than PowerUp Acquisition.
Summary
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats PowerUp Acquisition on 6 of the 8 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 PowerUp Acquisition
PowerUp Acquisition Corp. does not have significant operations. The company focuses on effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. It intends to focus on video gaming, gaming adjacent, and metaverse businesses. PowerUp Acquisition Corp. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in New York, New York.
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