Contrasting Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) & Valuence Merger Corp. I (NASDAQ:VMCA)

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Valuence Merger Corp. I (NASDAQ:VMCA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Valuence Merger Corp. I’s 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	5.70	$231.01 million	$3.10	7.56
Valuence Merger Corp. I	N/A	N/A	$4.77 million	N/A	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Valuence Merger Corp. I.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Valuence Merger Corp. I, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	4	2	0	2.33
Valuence Merger Corp. I	0	0	0	0	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus price target of $21.92, indicating a potential downside of 6.50%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Valuence Merger Corp. I.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Valuence Merger Corp. I’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%
Valuence Merger Corp. I	N/A	-30.65%	5.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.2% of Valuence Merger Corp. I shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 47.0% of Valuence Merger Corp. I shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Valuence Merger Corp. I 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 Valuence Merger Corp. I

Valuence Merger Corp. I 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 or entities. It intends to identify a business in Asia that is developing breakthrough technology in life sciences and/or advancing a platform for sustainable technology. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Orinda, California.