PIMCO Income Strategy Fund (PFL): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is PFL undervalued?

At 6.97 (close of 5 Nov 2026), PFL trades 39% below the GLS average fair value of 11.47. That average comes from 9 models run on the latest filings, and 7 of them land above the current price. Margins of safety over 30% are the exception rather than the rule across the ~7,400 stocks we value each night, so the number earns PIMCO Income Strategy Fund the full Value points in the Wheel Score - and a closer look at what the market is pricing in.

The 9 models disagree widely: GLS Growth gives 0.5938 while 10 Cap gives 21.10. A spread that wide means the average is sensitive to which methods you trust; the model table below shows where each one lands, and the Quote page lets you switch any of them off.

PFL 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 PFL

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

Financial health is average - PFL passes 5 of the nine Piotroski tests, which falls one point short of the "Piotroski 6 or more" Wheel Trade Filter. The Financials tab on the Quote page shows which tests fail. There is no GLS Moat score for PFL: 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 7.3%, ROE 7.3%, ROA 7.1% - with debt at 0.01 times equity and a free-cash-flow yield of 15.7%.

The dividend yield is high at 14.01% (payout ratio 153%) - 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 2/10, insider activity 5/10 and Congressional trading 5/10 on the GLS smart-money scales.

Wheel Score 26: No options

PFL has no listed options in the nightly snapshot, so there is nothing to sell and the stock cannot be wheeled however good the business. It fails the first Wheel Trade Filter (options that actually trade), so the score stays under 70 and is shown as "No options" (26 here). The valuation and quality numbers still apply to owning the shares outright.

Volume runs at 193k shares a day on a market cap of $347M, with a beta of 0.57 - 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 PFL in the nightly calendar. The shares go ex-dividend on 13 Nov 2026 (0.0814 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

The 12 companies below are the closest to PIMCO Income Strategy Fund 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 PFL with 7 of them   All Financial Services stocks →