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Equus Total Return (Equus Total Return) Piotroski F-Score

: 4 (As of Today)
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The zones of discrimination were as such:

Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3

Equus Total Return has an F-score of 4 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.

The historical rank and industry rank for Equus Total Return's Piotroski F-Score or its related term are showing as below:

EQS' s Piotroski F-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 1   Med: 5   Max: 9
Current: 4

During the past 13 years, the highest Piotroski F-Score of Equus Total Return was 9. The lowest was 1. And the median was 5.


Equus Total Return Piotroski F-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for Equus Total Return's Piotroski F-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Equus Total Return Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Piotroski F-Score
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 6.00 5.00 8.00 1.00 4.00

Equus Total Return Quarterly Data
Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23
Piotroski F-Score Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 1.00 1.00 4.00 5.00 4.00

Competitive Comparison

For the Asset Management subindustry, Equus Total Return's Piotroski F-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Piotroski F-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Equus Total Return Piotroski F-Score Distribution

For the Asset Management industry and Financial Services sector, Equus Total Return's Piotroski F-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Equus Total Return's Piotroski F-Score falls into.


How is the Piotroski F-Score calculated?

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Dec23) TTM:Last Year (Dec22) TTM:
Net Income was -1.131 + 5.945 + 7.077 + 1.058 = $12.95 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was -5.48 + -4.258 + -7.683 + -33.938 = $-51.36 Mil.
Revenue was 0.007 + 6.82 + 8.241 + 2.14 = $17.21 Mil.
Average Total Assets from the begining of this year (Dec22)
to the end of this year (Dec23) was
(41.664 + 44.489 + 53.097 + 65.535 + 93.547) / 5 = $59.6664 Mil.
Total Assets at the begining of this year (Dec22) was $41.66 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $44.96 Mil.
Total Assets was $93.55 Mil.
Total Liabilities was $45.26 Mil.
Net Income was 1.07 + -0.28 + -0.925 + -0.993 = $-1.13 Mil.

Revenue was 1.998 + 0.5 + -0.002 + 0.001 = $2.50 Mil.
Average Total Assets from the begining of last year (Dec21)
to the end of last year (Dec22) was
(39.716 + 40.937 + 41.522 + 40.609 + 41.664) / 5 = $40.8896 Mil.
Total Assets at the begining of last year (Dec21) was $39.72 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $6.00 Mil.
Total Assets was $41.66 Mil.
Total Liabilities was $6.43 Mil.

*Note: If the latest quarterly/semi-annual/annual total assets data is 0, then we will use previous quarterly/semi-annual/annual data for all the items in the balance sheet.

Profitability

Question 1. Return on Assets (ROA)

Net income before extraordinary items for the year divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

Equus Total Return's current Net Income (TTM) was 12.95. ==> Positive ==> Score 1.

Question 2. Cash Flow Return on Assets (CFROA)

Net cash flow from operating activities (operating cash flow) divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

Equus Total Return's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was -51.36. ==> Negative ==> Score 0.

Question 3. Change in Return on Assets

Compare this year's return on assets (1) to last year's return on assets.

Score 1 if it's higher, 0 if it's lower.

ROA (This Year)=Net Income/Total Assets (Dec22)
=12.949/41.664
=0.31079589

ROA (Last Year)=Net Income/Total Assets (Dec21)
=-1.128/39.716
=-0.02840165

Equus Total Return's return on assets of this year was 0.31079589. Equus Total Return's return on assets of last year was -0.02840165. ==> This year is higher. ==> Score 1.

Question 4. Quality of Earnings (Accrual)

Compare Cash flow return on assets (2) to return on assets (1)

Score 1 if CFROA > ROA, 0 if CFROA <= ROA.

Equus Total Return's current Net Income (TTM) was 12.95. Equus Total Return's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was -51.36. ==> -51.36 <= 12.95 ==> CFROA <= ROA ==> Score 0.

Funding

Question 5. Change in Gearing or Leverage

Compare this year's gearing (long-term debt divided by average total assets) to last year's gearing.

Score 0 if this year's gearing is higher, 1 otherwise.

Gearing (This Year: Dec23)=Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation/Average Total Assets from Dec22 to Dec23
=44.955/59.6664
=0.75343912

Gearing (Last Year: Dec22)=Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation/Average Total Assets from Dec21 to Dec22
=5.998/40.8896
=0.14668767

Equus Total Return's gearing of this year was 0.75343912. Equus Total Return's gearing of last year was 0.14668767. ==> Last year is lower than this year ==> Score 0.

Question 6. Change in Working Capital (Liquidity)

Compare this year's current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) to last year's current ratio.

Score 1 if this year's current ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

* Note that for banks and insurance companies, there's no Total Current Assets and Total Current Liabilities reported. Thus, we use Total Assets and Total Liabilities to calculate current ratio for banks and insurance companies.

Current Ratio (This Year: Dec23)=Total Assets/Total Liabilities
=93.547/45.26
=2.06688025

Current Ratio (Last Year: Dec22)=Total Assets/Total Liabilities
=41.664/6.427
=6.48265131

Equus Total Return's current ratio of this year was 2.06688025. Equus Total Return's current ratio of last year was 6.48265131. ==> Last year's current ratio is higher ==> Score 0.

Question 7. Change in Shares in Issue

Compare the number of shares in issue this year, to the number in issue last year.

Score 0 if there is larger number of shares in issue this year, 1 otherwise.

Equus Total Return's number of shares in issue this year was 13.55. Equus Total Return's number of shares in issue last year was 13.518. ==> There is larger number of shares in issue this year. ==> Score 0.

Efficiency

Question 8. Change in Gross Margin

Compare this year's gross margin (Gross Profit divided by sales) to last year's.

Score 1 if this year's gross margin is higher, 0 if it's lower.

* Note that for banks and insurance companies, there's no Gross Profit reported. Thus, we use net income instead of gross profit and calculate Net Margin for this score.

Net Margin (This Year: TTM)=Net Income/Revenue
=12.949/17.208
=0.75249884

Net Margin (Last Year: TTM)=Net Income/Revenue
=-1.128/2.497
=-0.45174209

Equus Total Return's net margin of this year was 0.75249884. Equus Total Return's net margin of last year was -0.45174209. ==> This year's net margin is higher. ==> Score 1.

Question 9. Change in asset turnover

Compare this year's asset turnover (total sales for the year divided by total assets at the beginning of the year) to last year's asset turnover ratio.

Score 1 if this year's asset turnover ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

Asset Turnover (This Year)=Revenue/Total Assets at the Beginning of This Year (Dec22)
=17.208/41.664
=0.41301843

Asset Turnover (Last Year)=Revenue/Total Assets at the Beginning of Last Year (Dec21)
=2.497/39.716
=0.06287139

Equus Total Return's asset turnover of this year was 0.41301843. Equus Total Return's asset turnover of last year was 0.06287139. ==> This year's asset turnover is higher. ==> Score 1.

Evaluation

Piotroski F-Score= Que. 1+ Que. 2+ Que. 3+Que. 4+Que. 5+Que. 6+Que. 7+Que. 8+Que. 9
=1+0+1+0+0+0+0+1+1
=4

Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3

Equus Total Return has an F-score of 4 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.

Equus Total Return  (NYSE:EQS) Piotroski F-Score Explanation

The developer of the system is Joseph D. Piotroski is relatively unknown accounting professor who shuns publicity and rarely gives interviews.

He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in accounting in 1989, received an M.B.A. from Indiana University in 1994. Five years later, in 1999, after earning a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Michigan, he became an associate professor of accounting at the University of Chicago.

In 2000, he wrote a research paper called "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers" (pdf).

He wanted to see if he can develop a system (using a simple nine-point scoring system) that can increase the returns of a strategy of investing in low price to book (referred to in the paper as high book to market) value companies.

What he found was something that exceeded his most optimistic expectations.

Buying only those companies that scored highest (8 or 9) on his nine-point scale, or F-Score as he called it, over the 20 year period from 1976 to 1996 led to an average out-performance over the market of 13.4%.

Even more impressive were the results of a strategy of investing in the highest F-Score companies (8 or 9) and shorting companies with the lowest F-Score (0 or 1).

Over the same period from 1976 to 1996 (20 years) this strategy led to an average yearly return of 23%, substantially outperforming the average S&P 500 index return of 15.83% over the same period.


Equus Total Return Piotroski F-Score Related Terms

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Equus Total Return (Equus Total Return) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
N/A
Address
700 Louisiana Street, 48th Floor, Houston, TX, USA, 77002
Equus Total Return Inc is a United States-based closed-end management investment company providing financial solutions for privately-owned middle market and small capitalization companies. Its investment objective is to seek the highest total return, consisting of capital appreciation and current income. It focuses to provide long-term capital gains by investing in the debt and equity securities of small and middle-market capitalization companies that are generally not publicly traded at the time of its investment. Its investment operations include investment selection, due diligence, structuring investments, and providing management assistance and monitoring of investments.
Executives
Robert L Knauss director 5151 SAN FELIPE, SUITE 1661, HOUSTON TX 77056
Pallieres Bertrand Des director EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC., 8 GREENWAY PLAZA, SUITE 930, HOUSTON TX 77046
Michael T Tokarz 10 percent owner 287 BOWMAN AVENUE, SUITE 331, PURCHASE NY 10577
Mvc Capital, Inc. 10 percent owner RIVERVIEW AT PURCHASE, 287 BOWMAN AVENUE, 3RD FLOOR, PURCHASE NY 10577
Tokarz Group Advisers Llc 10 percent owner RIVERVIEW PLAZA, 287 BOWMAN AVENUE, 2ND FLOOR, PURCHASE NY 10577
John A. Hardy director C/O EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC., 8 GREENWAY PLAZA, SUITE 930, HOUSTON TX 77046
Richard F Bergner director 2727 ALLEN PARKWAY, 13TH FLOOR, HOUSTON TX 77019
Fraser Atkinson director C/O EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC., 8 GREENWAY PLAZA, SUITE 930, HOUSTON TX 77046
Henry W Hankinson director 2727 ALLEN PARKWAY, 13TH FLOOR, HOUSTON TX 77019
Kenneth I Denos officer: Executive VP and Secretary 10757 SOUTH RIVER FRONT PARKWAY, SUITE 125, SOUTH JORDAN UT 84095
Mobiquity Investments Ltd director 19105 36TH AVENUE WEST, SUITE 213, LYNNWOOD WA 98036
Alessandro Benedetti director C/O EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC., 8 GREENWAY PLAZA, SUITE 930, HOUSTON TX 77046
Tiel Trust Fbo Paula T. Douglass 10 percent owner P.O. BOX 130197, HOUSTON TX 77219
Tiel Trust Fbo Sam P. Douglass 10 percent owner P.O. BOX 130197, HOUSTON TX 77219
Douglass Trust Iv - Fbo S. Preston Douglass 10 percent owner P.O. BOX 130197, HOUSTON TX 77219

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