Blackrock Tcp Capital (NASDAQ:TCPC – Get Free Report) and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (NYSE:MSDL – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.
Dividends
Blackrock Tcp Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.3%. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.5%. Blackrock Tcp Capital pays out -45.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund pays out 178.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Blackrock Tcp Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Blackrock Tcp Capital and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Blackrock Tcp Capital | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
| Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2.14 |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Blackrock Tcp Capital and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Blackrock Tcp Capital | $201.79 million | 1.63 | -$88.93 million | ($1.49) | -2.63 |
| Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund | $397.29 million | 3.33 | $122.09 million | $1.01 | 15.45 |
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has higher revenue and earnings than Blackrock Tcp Capital. Blackrock Tcp Capital 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.
Volatility & Risk
Blackrock Tcp Capital has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Blackrock Tcp Capital and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Blackrock Tcp Capital | -66.92% | 14.30% | 5.47% |
| Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund | 22.84% | 9.73% | 4.37% |
Summary
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund beats Blackrock Tcp Capital on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Blackrock Tcp Capital
BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. is a business development company specializing in direct equity and debt investments in middle-market, small businesses, debt securities, senior secured loans, junior loans, originated loans, mezzanine, senior debt instruments, bonds, and secondary-market investments. It typically invests in communication services, public relations services, television, wireless telecommunication services, apparel, textile mills, restaurants, retailing, energy, oil and gas extraction, Patent owners and Lessors, Federal and Federally- Sponsored Credit agencies, insurance, hospital and healthcare centers, Biotechnology, engineering services, heavy electrical equipment, tax accounting, scientific and related consulting services, charter freight air transportation, Information technology consulting, application hosting services, software diagram and design, computer aided design, communication equipment, electronics manufacturing equipment, computer components, chemicals. It seeks to invest in the United States. The fund typically invests between $10 million and $35 million in companies with enterprise values between $100 million and $1500 million including complex situations. It prefers to make equity investments in companies for an ownership stake.
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.
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