Contrasting ROYCE OTC MICRO (NYSE:RMT) and Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ROYCE OTC MICRO and Equus Total Return”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ROYCE OTC MICRO	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	$1.27 million	20.49	-$18.78 million	($1.25)	-1.53

ROYCE OTC MICRO has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equus Total Return.

Profitability

This table compares ROYCE OTC MICRO and Equus Total Return’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ROYCE OTC MICRO	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equus Total Return	-1,212.18%	-8.77%	-6.08%

Risk & Volatility

ROYCE OTC MICRO has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equus Total Return has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for ROYCE OTC MICRO and Equus Total Return, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ROYCE OTC MICRO	0	0	0	0	0.00
Equus Total Return	1	0	0	0	1.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

35.0% of ROYCE OTC MICRO shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of ROYCE OTC MICRO 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, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ROYCE OTC MICRO beats Equus Total Return on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ROYCE OTC MICRO

Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed Royce & Associates, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies with market capitalization of less than $500 million. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against Russell 2000 Index. Royce Micro-Cap Trust, Inc was formed on December 14, 1993 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.