Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) and The Swiss Helvetia Fund (NYSE:SWZ) Critical Comparison

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Equus Total Return and The Swiss Helvetia Fund”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equus Total Return	-$2.51 million	-6.08	$12.95 million	($0.50)	-2.25
The Swiss Helvetia Fund	$6.18 million	18.84	-$27.40 million	N/A	N/A

Equus Total Return has higher earnings, but lower revenue than The Swiss Helvetia Fund.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

41.1% of The Swiss Helvetia Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.6% of Equus Total Return shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of The Swiss Helvetia Fund shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Equus Total Return and The Swiss Helvetia Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equus Total Return	-621.28%	-7.73%	-3.63%
The Swiss Helvetia Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

Equus Total Return has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Swiss Helvetia Fund has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

The Swiss Helvetia Fund beats Equus Total Return on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equus Total Return

Equus Total Return, Inc. is a business development company (BDC) specializing in leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, corporate partnerships/joint ventures, growth and expansion capital, acquisition financing, roll-up acquisition strategies, operational turnarounds, recapitalizations of existing businesses, special situations, equity and equity-oriented securities issued by privately owned companies, debt securities including subordinate debt, debt convertible into common or preferred stock, or debt combined with warrants and common and preferred stock, and preferred equity financing. It invests in small to mid-sized companies and acts as a lead investor. It invests in technology, telecommunication, financial services, natural resource and industrial manufacturing and services. It invests in companies engaged in the alternative energy, real estate, healthcare, education, e-learning, leisure and entertainment, and foreign investment sector in the United States, China, India, and Europe. It investments include common and preferred stock, debt convertible into common or preferred stock, debt combined with warrants and options, and other rights to acquire common or preferred stock. It seeks to invest in companies between $1 million to $25 million with revenues between $5 million and $150 million with EBITDA between $2 million to $50 million. It seeks to take control and non-control equity positions. Equus Total Return, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is based in Houston, Texas with additional office in Vancouver, Canada.

About The Swiss Helvetia Fund

The Swiss Helvetia Fund Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. The fund invests in public equity markets of Switzerland. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in value stocks of companies across all market capitalizations. It employs fundamental analysis with a bottom-up stock picking approach, focusing on factors such as capital appreciation, income, economic and industry trends, quality of management, financial condition, business plan, industry and sector market position, dividend payout ratio, and corporate governance to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the S&P 500 Index and MSCI EAFE Index. It was previously known as The Helvetia Fund, Inc. The Swiss Helvetia Fund Inc. was formed in October 24, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.