Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust (EVF): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is EVF undervalued?

At 4.86 (close of 5 Nov 2026), EVF trades 14% over the GLS average fair value of 4.27. 3 of the 8 models land above the price and 5 below. A negative margin of safety fails the "below fair value" Wheel Trade Filter - the models see no discount, which does not make the business a poor one, only the price a full one.

There is a wide gap between GLS Growth (0.4841) and 10 Cap (9.68). When the models are this far apart the "fair value" is really a range, and the margin of safety above should be read with that range in mind.

Ranked against every other company we cover, EVF is clearly cheaper than it is fast-growing, so the nightly engine files it under Value (value score 45, growth score 10, out of 100). It also carries the Income tag (Income = a dividend yield of 4% or more).

Nine valuation models for EVF

Each model turns the latest filed numbers into a value per share; the GLS fair value is the simple average of the ones that produce a positive number. The last two rows are shown for reference and never enter the average. The Quote page lets you switch any model off and add your own margin of safety.

Quality and financial health

Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust scores 5 of 9 on the Piotroski F-score: a middling result that falls one point short of the "Piotroski 6 or more" Wheel Trade Filter. Some of the nine tests on profitability, leverage and efficiency are failed, so the accounts are worth a look before selling a put on the name. A GLS Moat score of 4.9/10 is a weak reading: the accounts do not show returns and margins that competitors have been unable to wear down, so the Moat part of the Wheel Score contributes little.

Returns on capital are thin or negative - ROIC 2.1%, ROE 2.8%, ROA 2.0% - with debt at 0.31 times equity and a free-cash-flow yield of 10.0%.

The dividend yield is high at 8.64% (payout ratio 331%) - a payout above 100% of earnings, which is not covered by profits. A yield this size is often the market's way of pricing a risk to the payout, so the health score and cash flow matter more than usual.

Institutional ownership scores 4/10, insider activity 5/10 and Congressional trading 5/10 on the GLS smart-money scales.

Wheel Score 18: No options

No options are listed on Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust in our nightly snapshot, so it fails the first Wheel Trade Filter (options that actually trade) (it reads 18, under 70) and is left out of every options scan; the fair value and health figures above are still useful for a plain stock position.

Volume runs at 142k shares a day on a market cap of $88M, with a beta of 0.31 - a low beta, so day-to-day moves are smaller than the market's; the Stability part of the Wheel Score rates that fair.

The Wheel Score ranks ~7,400 US stocks for selling cash-secured puts and covered calls: a stock must pass all 9 Wheel Trade Filters to score 70, and the score then ranks the ones that pass; the Sunday Scan is the top 10. It is updated nightly and is not a recommendation. How the Wheel Score works · the walkthrough lesson shows how it fits into a trade, start to finish.

Upcoming events

No upcoming earnings date is recorded for EVF in the nightly calendar. The shares go ex-dividend on 13 Nov 2026 (0.0310 per share), so a covered call sold before then carries a small early-assignment risk around that date.

Earnings, dividend, IPO, split and economic calendars for the whole market, filterable to your watchlists.

Similar stocks in Asset Management - Income

The 12 companies below are the closest to Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust by market cap within the Asset Management - Income industry, each with its own fact sheet; the Compare page puts up to eight of them side by side.

⚖ Compare EVF with 7 of them   All Financial Services stocks →