Flaherty & Crumrine Total Return Fund Inc. (FLC): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is FLC undervalued?

Flaherty & Crumrine Total Return Fund Inc. (FLC) closed at 15.82 on 5 Nov 2026. The GLS average fair value - the simple average of the 9 valuation models that produced a positive number - is 33.39, which puts the price 53% below it. 8 of the 9 models value the shares above the current price. A gap this wide is rare in our universe of ~7,400 US stocks and is exactly what the Value part of the Wheel Score rewards; it is also where the question "why is it this cheap?" matters most.

There is a wide gap between DCF (9.04) and Graham Growth (102.38). 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.

FLC looks like a fund, note or preferred share rather than an operating company, so the nightly engine files it under Fund / Note: the valuation models are not built for it, and its Wheel Score is capped at 45.

Nine valuation models for FLC

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

Flaherty & Crumrine Total Return Fund Inc. scores only 4 of 9 on the Piotroski F-score, which fails the "Piotroski 6 or more" Wheel Trade Filter. A reading this low means several of the basic tests - positive earnings, positive operating cash flow, falling debt, no new share issuance - are not met. There is no GLS Moat score for FLC: funds, notes and second share lines get none, and so does a company with fewer than two years of accounts on file. The Moat part of the Wheel Score is zero.

Returns on capital are moderate - ROIC 5.1%, ROE 8.2%, ROA 5.1% - with debt at 0.60 times equity and a free-cash-flow yield of 7.8%.

The dividend yield is high at 8.13% (payout ratio 69%). 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 25: No options

No options are listed on Flaherty & Crumrine Total Return Fund Inc. in our nightly snapshot, so it fails the first Wheel Trade Filter (options that actually trade) (it reads 25, 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 18k shares a day on a market cap of $165M, with a beta of 0.67 - 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 FLC in the nightly calendar. The shares go ex-dividend on 20 Nov 2026 (0.1067 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.

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