Western Asset High Income Opportunity Fund Inc. Common Stock (HIO)

FairStock Score: 59/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

As a value investor, I start with what I know. HIO is a closed-end fund holding high-yield U.S. corporate debt, with an average duration near four years and average credit quality around B. That is not a wide-moat business; it is a credit portfolio whose fortunes depend on default rates, spreads, and interest rates. The FairStock data show a price of $3.25 on 2026-10-13, a market cap of $347.6 million, and a P/B of 0.83. The Graham Number is $4.59, implying a 29.19% margin of safety, which catches my eye. The fund also yields 13.11%, and its beta is 0.52, so it has not been volatile against the market. But the quality signals are mixed. FairStock calculations show ROE of 7.32%, ROCE of 4.78%, and a P/E of 13.54 at that close. The Piotroski F-Score is only 1/9, which suggests weak fundamental momentum in the reported numbers. The Altman Z-Score is 36.37, which looks very safe, but for a fund that metric is less meaningful than credit quality and distribution coverage. Revenue and profit growth are not available; the Lynch category is none because there are zero years of filed results. The FairStock score is 59/100. So I see a discounted, high-yielding credit fund trading near the low end of its 52-week range of $3.24 to $3.89. The price may compensate for risk, but the weak profitability and F-score tell me to demand a larger cushion and watch credit conditions closely.

In plain English: This is a fund that invests mostly in higher-risk U.S. corporate debt, with average credit quality around B. The reported numbers show weak profitability and a low financial-strength score, but the shares trade below their accounting value and below a simple value estimate. On those measures the price looks cheap, though the high dividend yield comes with credit risk.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer