Analyzing Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Globalink Investment (NASDAQ:GLLI)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Globalink Investment, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	5	1	0	2.17
Globalink Investment	0	0	0	0	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus target price of $21.42, suggesting a potential upside of 6.39%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Globalink Investment.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$275.66 million	6.53	$231.01 million	$3.10	6.49
Globalink Investment	N/A	N/A	$1.32 million	($0.16)	-70.71

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Globalink Investment. Globalink Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Morgan Stanley Direct Lending, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	60.60%	12.57%	6.36%
Globalink Investment	N/A	-1.76%	0.38%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.9% of Globalink Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Globalink Investment shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Globalink Investment on 9 of the 11 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 Globalink Investment

Globalink Investment Inc. 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 identify and acquire businesses in the medical technology and green energy sectors in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Asia excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Globalink Investment Inc. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Newark, Delaware.