Head to Head Analysis: Trailblazer Merger Co. I (NASDAQ:TBMC) versus Morgan Stanley Direct Lending (NYSE:MSDL)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Trailblazer Merger Co. I, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	0	5	1	0	2.17
Trailblazer Merger Co. I	0	0	0	0	0.00

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending currently has a consensus target price of $21.58, suggesting a potential upside of 4.67%. Given Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending is more favorable than Trailblazer Merger Co. I.

Profitability

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Trailblazer Merger Co. I’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	54.89%	12.69%	6.52%
Trailblazer Merger Co. I	N/A	-42.64%	1.87%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Morgan Stanley Direct Lending and Trailblazer Merger Co. I”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending	$257.79 million	7.08	$231.01 million	$2.55	8.09
Trailblazer Merger Co. I	N/A	N/A	$1.35 million	N/A	N/A

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Trailblazer Merger Co. I.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.1% of Trailblazer Merger Co. I shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Morgan Stanley Direct Lending shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.5% of Trailblazer Merger Co. I shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Morgan Stanley Direct Lending beats Trailblazer Merger Co. I on 8 of the 10 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 Trailblazer Merger Co. I

Trailblazer Merger Corp. I is a blank check company, which engages in effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, and reorganization or other similar business combination. The company was founded on November 12, 2021 and is headquartered in New York, NY.