Financial Review: Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL) and Bowen Acquisition (NASDAQ:BOWN)

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bowen Acquisition and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowen Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$275.66 million	6.50	$231.01 million	$3.10	6.46

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Bowen Acquisition.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Bowen Acquisition and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has a consensus target price of $21.42, suggesting a potential upside of 6.87%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Bowen Acquisition.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowen Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	60.60%	12.57%	6.36%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

59.3% of Bowen Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Bowen Acquisition on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bowen Acquisition

Bowen Acquisition Corp does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The company was incorporated in 2023 and is based in New York, New York.

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.