CaliberCos (NASDAQ:CWD) & Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL) Head-To-Head Review

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

4.1% of CaliberCos shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of CaliberCos shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and CaliberCos”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 Fund	$397.29 million	2.80	$122.09 million	$0.69	19.15
CaliberCos	$20.10 million	0.21	-$21.80 million	($3.79)	-0.10

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

Risk & Volatility

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CaliberCos has a beta of -0.1, meaning that its stock price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and CaliberCos’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	15.97%	9.61%	4.28%
CaliberCos	-117.34%	-75.44%	-13.87%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and CaliberCos, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund	0	6	1	0	2.14
CaliberCos	1	0	0	0	1.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund presently has a consensus target price of $15.17, suggesting a potential upside of 14.77%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is more favorable than CaliberCos.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund beats CaliberCos on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

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 CaliberCos

Caliber (NASDAQ: CWD) is a vertically integrated alternative asset management firm whose purpose is to build generational wealth for investors seeking to access opportunities in middle-market assets. Caliber differentiates itself by creating, managing, and servicing proprietary products, including middle-market investment funds, private syndications, and direct investments which are managed by our in-house asset services group. Our funds include investment vehicles focused primarily on real estate, private equity, and debt facilities. Additional information can be found at Caliberco.com and CaliberFunds.co.