Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL – Get Free Report) and Siebert Financial (NASDAQ:SIEB – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Risk and Volatility
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Siebert Financial has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and Siebert Financial, as provided 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 |
| Siebert Financial | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
1.5% of Siebert Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.0% of Siebert Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and Siebert Financial’s 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% |
| Siebert Financial | -1.07% | -1.25% | -0.15% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund and Siebert Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund | $397.29 million | 2.75 | $122.09 million | $0.69 | 18.82 |
| Siebert Financial | $98.92 million | 0.86 | $5.12 million | ($0.03) | -67.33 |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has higher revenue and earnings than Siebert Financial. Siebert Financial 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.
Summary
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund beats Siebert Financial on 11 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 Siebert Financial
Siebert Financial Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the retail brokerage and investment advisory businesses in the United States and Internationally. It offers self-directed trading, market making and fixed income investment, stock borrow, stock loan, equity compensation plans, wealth management, and financial advisory services; independent retail execution services; and retail customer services. The company also offers self-directed retirement accounts, as well as lends customers a portion of the market value of marginable securities held in the customer's account. In addition, the company provides data technology platform that offers various services, such as email and messaging, market data systems and third party trading systems, business productivity tools, and customer relationship management systems. Further, it offers a Robo-Advisor platform that provides clients with an automated wealth management solution; and various insurance products, such as fixed annuities, personal insurance, property and casualty insurance, natural disaster insurance, and life and disability. Siebert Financial Corp. was incorporated in 1934 and is headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida.
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