Financial Survey: PowerUp Acquisition (NASDAQ:PWUP) vs. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	62.34%	12.87%	6.39%
PowerUp Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and PowerUp Acquisition, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending presently has a consensus target price of $21.58, indicating a potential upside of 5.80%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than PowerUp Acquisition.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.2% of PowerUp Acquisition shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 48.0% of PowerUp Acquisition shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and PowerUp Acquisition’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	$268.68 million	6.79	$231.01 million	$3.10	6.58
PowerUp Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

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

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats PowerUp Acquisition on 6 of the 8 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 PowerUp Acquisition

PowerUp Acquisition Corp. 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 focus on video gaming, gaming adjacent, and metaverse businesses. PowerUp Acquisition Corp. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in New York, New York.