Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund (ECF) Competitors

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund (NYSE:ECF) and Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund (NYSE:PFO) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.

Is ECF or PFO more profitable?

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Does the media refer more to ECF or PFO?

In the previous week, Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund had 3 more articles in the media than Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund and 1 mentions for Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund. Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund's average media sentiment score of 1.85 beat Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund's score of 0.25 indicating that Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ECF or PFO?

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Which has more risk and volatility, ECF or PFO?

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ECF or PFO?

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund and Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund both received 0 outperform votes by MarketBeat users.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund	N/A	N/A
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ECF or PFO?

35.9% of Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.9% of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ECF or PFO a better dividend stock?

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%.

Do analysts rate ECF or PFO?

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Summary

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund beats Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund on 4 of the 6 factors compared between the two stocks.