Head-To-Head Analysis: Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) and Liberty All-Star Growth Fund (NYSE:ASG)

Profitability

This table compares Liberty All-Star Growth Fund and Equus Total Return’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty All-Star Growth Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	-621.28%	-7.73%	-3.63%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Liberty All-Star Growth Fund and Equus Total Return”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty All-Star Growth Fund	$51.46 million	6.03	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	-$7.91 million	-2.25	$12.95 million	($0.95)	-1.38

Equus Total Return has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Liberty All-Star Growth Fund.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

21.6% of Liberty All-Star Growth Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Liberty All-Star Growth Fund shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.9% of Equus Total Return shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Liberty All-Star Growth Fund has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equus Total Return has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Liberty All-Star Growth Fund beats Equus Total Return on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Liberty All-Star Growth Fund

Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by ALPS Advisers, Inc. It is co-managed by Weatherbie Capital, LLC, Congress Asset Management Company, and Sustainable Growth Advisers, LP. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in growth stocks of companies across all market capitalizations. It employs fundamental analysis with a bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the NASDAQ Composite Index, Russell 3000 Growth Index, and the S&P 500 Index. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. The fund was previously known as Charles Allmon Trust, Inc. Liberty All-Star Growth Fund, Inc. was formed on March 14, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.

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.