Financial Survey: Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:NAZ) versus Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS)

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

Profitability

This table compares Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund and Equus Total Return’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	-1,031.61%	-13.24%	-11.68%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund and Equus Total Return”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	$1.37 million	13.06	-$14.16 million	($1.07)	-1.20

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equus Total Return.

Risk & Volatility

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equus Total Return has a beta of 0.06, suggesting that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

15.3% of Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.5% of Equus Total Return shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund and Equus Total Return, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
Equus Total Return	1	0	0	0	1.00

Summary

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund beats Equus Total Return on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund

Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is managed by Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of Arizona. The fund invests in municipal securities and other related investments the income, exempt from regular federal and Arizona income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better and having an average maturity of 18.66 years. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Arizona Municipal Bond Index and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) National Municipal Bond Index. The fund was formerly known as Nuveen Arizona Premium Income Municipal Fund. Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund was formed on November 19, 1992 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.