Head to Head Comparison: Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) & India Fund (NYSE:IFN)

Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) and India Fund (NYSE:IFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Equus Total Return and India Fund”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equus Total Return	$1.37 million	12.13	-$14.16 million	($1.07)	-1.11
India Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

India Fund has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Equus Total Return.

Volatility & Risk

Equus Total Return has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, India Fund has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equus Total Return	-1,031.61%	-13.24%	-11.68%
India Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Equus Total Return and India Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equus Total Return	1	0	0	0	1.00
India Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.8% of India Fund shares are held by institutional investors. 30.5% of Equus Total Return shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

India Fund beats Equus Total Return on 5 of the 8 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 India Fund

The India Fund, Inc. is a close ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) Limited. The fund invests in public equity markets of India. It seeks to invest in stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies. The fund employs a quantitative and fundamental analysis with a bottom-up stock picking and asset allocation approach to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the IFC Investable India Index. The India Fund, Inc. was formed on December 27, 1993 and is domiciled in the Singapore.