Burford Capital Limited (BUR) vs Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (MSDL)

Burford Capital Limited and Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund are both Asset Management companies. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund is the larger, with a market value of $1.2B against $869.6M — 1.4× the size. Burford Capital Limited has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund trades at 284×. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: −10.7% against −402.2%. Burford Capital Limited has the higher net margin (115.0% vs 1.34%) and the lower return on invested capital (−23.3% vs 3.06%). Both pay a dividend; Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund yields more (13.1% vs 1.58%). Across the 16 metrics below, Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund leads on 13 and Burford Capital Limited on 3.

Valuation

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
P/E n/m 283.60 13.38
P/S n/m 3.30 2.99
P/B 0.58 0.76 0.91
Price to free cash flow n/m 3.20 7.79
EV/EBITDA — — —
EV/Sales — — —
Earnings yield (189.65%) 0.35% 4.67%
Free cash flow yield (33.55%) 31.27% 4.85%

Profitability

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
Gross margin 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Operating margin 99.48% 0.00% 27.27%
Net margin 115.02% 1.34% 11.89%
Free cash flow margin 20.41% 103.35% 5.96%
Return on equity (70.01%) 0.29% 4.57%
Return on assets (30.20%) 0.13% 1.40%
Return on invested capital (23.34%) 3.06% 2.12%

Growth

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
Revenue growth (TTM) (402.21%) (10.69%) 7.26%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (57.58%) (42.39%) (5.64%)
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 2.85% 78.53% 11.84%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (17.64%) 46.17% 0.00%

Health

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
Debt to equity 1.53 1.21 0.40
Current ratio 0.00 0.00 1.23
Net debt to EBITDA 6.34 5.42 1.06

Dividend

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
Dividend yield 1.58% 13.05% 6.43%
Payout ratio — 37.00 0.91

Size

Metric BUR MSDL Asset Management median
Market cap 869.60m 1.19b 692.54m

Compare with another peer

Any metric, up to five companies and an Excel export Powerpack