Comparing Sprott (NYSE:SII) and Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund (NYSE:JQC)

Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund (NYSE:JQC) and Sprott (NYSE:SII) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund and Sprott, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
Sprott	0	1	2	0	2.67

Sprott has a consensus price target of $230.00, indicating a potential upside of 95.19%. Given Sprott’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sprott is more favorable than Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.3% of Sprott shares are held by institutional investors. 18.3% of Sprott shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.67 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.0%. Sprott pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Sprott pays out 39.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sprott has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund and Sprott’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sprott	26.36%	28.40%	20.95%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund and Sprott”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund	$51.33 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sprott	$285.08 million	10.64	$67.35 million	$4.08	28.88

Sprott has higher revenue and earnings than Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund.

Summary

Sprott beats Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund

Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund is a closed-ended balanced mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is managed by Symphony Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income and public equity markets of the United States. The fund invests in senior secured and second lien loans, preferred securities, convertible securities and related instruments. It seeks to invest in investment grade securities. The fund employs fundamental analysis with a focus on bottom-up stock picking approach based on factors such as interest rate levels, conditions and developing trends in the bond and equity markets, analysis of relative valuations for preferred, convertible and other debt instruments, and other economic and market factors, including the overall outlook for the economy and inflation to create its portfolio. The Fund uses leverage .It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The fund was formerly known as Nuveen Multi-Strategy Income & Growth Fund 2. Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund was formed on June 25, 2003 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Sprott

Sprott Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides asset management, portfolio management, wealth management, fund management, and administrative and consulting services to its clients. It offers mutual funds, hedge funds, and offshore funds, along with managed accounts. Further, the firm also provides broker-dealer activities. Sprott Inc. was formed on February 13, 2008 and is based in Toronto, Canada.