Saratoga Investment Corp 8.50% (SAZ): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is SAZ undervalued?

Saratoga Investment Corp 8.50% (SAZ) closed at 25.32 on 5 Nov 2026. The GLS average fair value - the simple average of the 2 valuation models that produced a positive number - is 32.50, so the price sits 22% below it. 1 of the 2 models value the shares above the current price. A margin of safety between 10% and 30% is where most of the Sunday Scan candidates come from.

Only 2 of the nine models produced a value (DCF, DDM); the others need a dividend, positive free cash flow or positive book value the company does not have yet, so the average rests on a narrow base.

SAZ 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 SAZ

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 weak: SAZ passes 4 of the nine Piotroski tests. Our scans drop the stock at the health filter; a low score is often the reason a stock looks cheap on the valuation models. There is no GLS Moat score for SAZ: 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 thin or negative - ROIC 3.3%, ROE 9.2%, ROA 3.2% - with debt at 1.83 times equity and negative free cash flow.

The dividend yield is high at 23.38% (payout ratio -1120%). 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 5/10, insider activity 10/10 and Congressional trading 5/10 on the GLS smart-money scales.

Wheel Score 22: No options

SAZ 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" (22 here). The valuation and quality numbers still apply to owning the shares outright.

Volume runs at 2k shares a day on a market cap of $210M, with a beta of 0.04 - 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

The next earnings report is due on 13 Jan 2027, 69 days away - outside the window of a 30-45-day put sold today. The shares go ex-dividend on 13 Nov 2026 (0.5312 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 Saratoga Investment Corp 8.50% 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.

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