Head to Head Comparison: Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) vs. John Hancock Investors Trust (NYSE:JHI)

Profitability

This table compares Equus Total Return and John Hancock Investors Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equus Total Return	-621.28%	-7.73%	-3.63%
John Hancock Investors Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

Equus Total Return has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, John Hancock Investors Trust has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.0% of John Hancock Investors Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 29.9% of Equus Total Return shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Equus Total Return and John Hancock Investors Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equus Total Return	-$7.91 million	-1.67	$12.95 million	($0.95)	-1.03
John Hancock Investors Trust	$21.21 million	5.51	N/A	N/A	N/A

Equus Total Return has higher earnings, but lower revenue than John Hancock Investors Trust.

Summary

John Hancock Investors Trust beats Equus Total Return on 7 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 John Hancock Investors Trust

John Hancock Investors Trust is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC. It is co-managed by John Hancock Asset Management. It invests in the fixed income markets across the globe. The fund primarily invests in a diversified portfolio of corporate and government bonds, debt securities. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. John Hancock Investors Trust was formed on January 29, 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.