MSDL
Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund
MSDL's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 277x earnings, about 31 times its usual 9.0x. Analysts expect earnings to hold roughly steady.
MSDL Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Healthy | |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
MSDL's profitability is currently healthy, and its revenue is stable. Free cash flow and net leverage aren't meaningful measures for financial services companies like MSDL.
MSDL PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 7.4x | $13.83 | — |
| Cheap | 7.6x | $0.38 | -97% |
| Fair | 9x | $0.45 | -97% |
| Expensive | 15x | $0.76 | -94% |
| Current | 277x | $13.83 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
MSDL's PE is in its expensive range at 277x. On analysts' estimates for next year's earnings, today's price would be 7.4x, in its cheap range.
MSDL Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Stable | |
| Stable | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect MSDL's profitability to improve, with its earnings and revenue holding steady.
MSDL Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.87 | +3650% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.05 | -97% |
| Q2 2026 | $0.69 | -64% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.01 | -54% |
| Q4 2025 | $1.40 | -42% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.65 | -35% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.93 | -35% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.18 | -29% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.43 | -22% |
MSDL's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $0.05 over the past year, against $3.11 in late 2023.
MSDL Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2022 | $40.2M | +26% |
| Q3 2022 | $24.3M | -8.5% |
| Q2 2022 | $6.6M | -72% |
| Q1 2022 | $29.1M | +72% |
| Q4 2021 | $31.9M | +179% |
| Q3 2021 | $26.6M | +312% |
| Q2 2021 | $23.3M | +343% |
| Q1 2021 | $16.9M | +1731% |
MSDL's revenue has held roughly level: $40M last quarter, up 26% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2022 | 51% | -32 points |
| Q3 2022 | 39% | -45 points |
| Q2 2022 | -49% | -135 points |
| Q1 2022 | 76% | -11 points |
| Q4 2021 | 83% | -20 points |
| Q3 2021 | 84% | -34 points |
| Q2 2021 | 85% | -28 points |
| Q1 2021 | 87% | +440 points |
MSDL's operating margin was 51% last quarter, down 32 points from the same quarter a year ago.
MSDL Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $128.7M | +230% |
| Q2 2026 | $103.8M | +332% |
| Q1 2026 | $86.3M | +153% |
| Q4 2025 | $53.8M | +$149.9M |
| Q3 2025 | $39M | +$156M |
| Q2 2025 | $24M | +$130.7M |
| Q1 2025 | $34.1M | +$87.8M |
| Q4 2024 | -$96.2M | -519% |
MSDL's free cash flow was $373M over the past year, more than ten times what it generated the year before. Free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like MSDL.
MSDL Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.9% | -724K shares |
| 1 year | -3.2% | -2.8M shares |
| 3 years | +17% | +12.2M shares |
| 5 years | -4.8% | -4.2M shares |
| Available history | +2618% | +80.9M shares |
MSDL has 84M diluted shares, down 3.2% from a year ago, with $49M in buybacks over the past year.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $12.8M |
| Q2 2026 | $12.5M |
| Q1 2026 | $14.7M |
| Q4 2025 | $9.1M |
| Q3 2025 | $2.8M |
| Q2 2025 | $20.4M |
| Q1 2025 | $9.6M |
| Q4 2024 | $10.1M |
MSDL spent $49M buying back its own shares over the past year, up 14% from the year before.
MSDL Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2022 | 29.5x | High |
| Q3 2022 | 26.4x | High |
| Q2 2022 | 20.6x | High |
| Q1 2022 | 14.5x | High |
| Q4 2021 | 14.1x | High |
| Q3 2021 | 14.6x | High |
| Q2 2021 | 12.8x | High |
| Q1 2021 | 13.2x | High |
MSDL's net debt is more than 20 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 14 years a year ago. Net leverage isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like MSDL.
MSDL Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 41.1 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 35.8 | Neutral |
MSDL's weekly RSI is 41 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 36 (neutral).
MSDL PE vs Financial Services Sector
| Metric | MSDL | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 277x | 13x | 2,024% above |
| PE % | 100 | 36 | 64 pts above |
MSDL is trading at 277x earnings, a 2024% premium to the Financial Services sector's median of 13x.
MSDL Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $13.6 | 1.7% above |
| 20 week MA | $14.6 | 4.9% below |
| 50 week MA | $15.2 | 8.8% below |
| 100 week MA | $17.1 | 19% below |
MSDL has bounced recently, but its long-term trend is still down: it's above its 8-week average, but 19% below its 100-week average.
MSDL Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $20.5 | $21.4 | +4.4% |
| 2025 | $21.4 | $17.0 | -21% |
| 2026 YTD | $17.0 | $13.8 | -19% |
MSDL has finished lower in one of the last two years. It's down 19% so far in 2026.