Virtus Total Return Fund Inc. (ZTR)

FairStock Score: 55/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

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

I look at Virtus Total Return Fund as a closed-end balanced fund, not an operating business with a moat. It invests in U.S. equities and fixed income, co-managed by Virtus, Kayne Anderson Rudnick, and Newfleet. On 2026-10-13, it closed at $6.25 with a $319.3 million market cap. FairStock calculates a P/E of 5.21 and a P/B of 0.82, so the market price is below stated book value. The Graham Number is $14.31, giving a 56.32% margin of safety by that calculation. The dividend yield is 10.56%, beta is 0.95, and debt-to-equity is 0.42. That combination looks statistically cheap and income-heavy. But financial health is the weak link: Piotroski F-Score is 1/9, Altman Z-Score is 1.30, and FairStock Score is 55/100. ROE, ROCE, revenue growth, and profit growth are all N/A in the data, so I cannot judge operating quality or growth from the figures. The Lynch category is none because only 0 years of filed results are available and three are needed. For a Graham-style investor, a discount to book and a high yield demand proof that the assets are sound and distributions are sustainable. The evidence here is mixed: cheap on asset and earnings measures, but fragile on financial-strength tests and lacking a filed track record. I would call it a speculative value situation, not a high-quality compounder.

In plain English: Virtus Total Return Fund is a managed fund that trades like a stock and invests in U.S. stocks and bonds for income and growth. The price looks cheap compared with its accounting value and it pays a very high dividend, but the fund's financial-strength signals look weak and there is little filed history to judge. At $6.25, it appears inexpensive relative to the numbers given, though the quality of the underlying earnings is uncertain.

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