Tekla Life Sciences Investors (HQL): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is HQL undervalued?

HQL has a margin of safety of 89%: the stock closed at 18.36 on 5 Nov 2026 against a GLS average fair value of 165.50. 7 of the 7 valuation models that produced a number sit above the price. Our scans treat a discount this large as a strong starting point for a cash-secured put, not as a verdict - the fair value is a model output, and a wide gap can mean the models are missing something the market knows.

There is a wide gap between DDM (32.96) and GLS Growth (398.97). 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, HQL is clearly cheaper than it is fast-growing, so the nightly engine files it under Value (value score 89, growth score 53, out of 100). It also carries the Income tag (Income = a dividend yield of 4% or more).

Nine valuation models for HQL

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

Tekla Life Sciences Investors 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 4.7/10 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 high - ROIC 16.7%, ROE 16.7%, ROA 16.6% - with debt at 0.00 times equity and negative free cash flow.

The dividend yield is high at 12.20% (payout ratio 25%). 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 3/10, insider activity 10/10 and Congressional trading 5/10 on the GLS smart-money scales.

Wheel Score 31: No options

No options are listed on Tekla Life Sciences Investors in our nightly snapshot, so it fails the first Wheel Trade Filter (options that actually trade) (it reads 31, 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 123k shares a day on a market cap of $558M, with a beta of 0.73 - 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 HQL in the nightly calendar.

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

Similar stocks in Asset Management

The 12 companies below are the closest to Tekla Life Sciences Investors by market cap within the Asset Management industry, each with its own fact sheet; the Compare page puts up to eight of them side by side.

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