SCM
Stellus Capital Investment Corporation
SCM's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 12x earnings, above its usual 10x. Analysts expect earnings to hold roughly steady.
SCM Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Under pressure | |
| Healthy | |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
SCM's profitability is currently healthy, but its revenue is under pressure. Free cash flow and net leverage aren't meaningful measures for financial services companies like SCM.
SCM PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 6.3x | $6.67 | — |
| Cheap | 7x | $4.07 | -39% |
| Fair | 10x | $5.85 | -12% |
| Current | 12x | $6.67 | — |
| Expensive | 20x | $11.34 | +70% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
SCM's PE is in its fair range at 12x. On analysts' estimates for next year's earnings, today's price would be 6.3x, in its cheap range.
SCM Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Stable | |
| Decline | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect SCM's profitability to improve, but its revenue to decline.
SCM Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.05 | +82% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.58 | -46% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.03 | -28% |
| Q1 2026 | $0.83 | -42% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.95 | -47% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.08 | -45% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.44 | +13% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.43 | +30% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.79 | +124% |
SCM's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $0.58 over the past year, against $3.54 in early 2021.
SCM Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | $8.7M | -25% |
| Q1 2022 | $11.8M | +2.2% |
| Q4 2021 | $17.9M | -17% |
| Q3 2021 | $20.4M | +56% |
| Q2 2021 | $11.6M | -74% |
| Q4 2020 | $21.6M | +199% |
SCM's revenue fell from its 2020 peak and has held roughly level since: $9M last quarter, down 25% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | 22% | -27 points |
| Q1 2022 | 47% | +0.5 points |
| Q4 2021 | 66% | -12 points |
| Q3 2021 | 70% | +8.9 points |
| Q2 2021 | 49% | -40 points |
| Q1 2021 | 46% | N/A |
| Q4 2020 | 78% | +50 points |
| Q3 2020 | 61% | N/A |
SCM's operating margin was 22% last quarter, down 27 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the bottom of its range since 2019.
SCM Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $957.1K | +$21.2M |
| Q2 2026 | $33.4M | +41% |
| Q1 2026 | $22.8M | +$59.7M |
| Q4 2025 | $9M | +$40.8M |
| Q3 2025 | -$20.2M | -272% |
| Q2 2025 | $23.7M | +$36.8M |
| Q1 2025 | -$36.9M | -928% |
| Q4 2024 | -$31.8M | -226% |
SCM's free cash flow was $66M over the past year, against −$65M the year before. Free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like SCM.
SCM Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -1.4% | -403K shares |
| 1 year | -0.1% | -14.8K shares |
| 3 years | +25% | +5.6M shares |
| 5 years | +46% | +9M shares |
| Available history | +47% | +9M shares |
SCM has 28M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $4.1M |
| Q2 2022 | — |
| Q1 2022 | — |
| Q4 2021 | — |
| Q3 2021 | — |
| Q2 2021 | — |
| Q1 2021 | — |
| Q4 2020 | $2.00 |
SCM Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | 16.8x | High |
| Q1 2022 | 14.5x | High |
| Q4 2021 | 12.8x | High |
| Q3 2021 | 11.7x | High |
| Q2 2021 | 13.9x | High |
| Q1 2021 | 6.2x | High |
| Q4 2020 | 17.7x | High |
| Q3 2020 | 54.9x | High |
SCM's net debt is about 17 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 14 years a year ago. Net leverage isn't a meaningful measure for financial services companies like SCM.
SCM Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 33.6 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 18.1 | Oversold |
SCM's weekly RSI is 34 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 18 (oversold).
SCM PE vs Financial Services Sector
| Metric | SCM | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 12x | 13x | 12% below |
| PE % | 60 | 63 | 3 pts below |
SCM is trading at 12x earnings, a 12% discount to the Financial Services sector's median of 13x.
SCM Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $7.11 | 6.2% below |
| 20 week MA | $7.76 | 14% below |
| 50 week MA | $9.41 | 29% below |
| 100 week MA | $11.5 | 42% below |
| 200 week MA | $12.7 | 47% below |
SCM is in a downtrend: it's below all five of its weekly moving averages, and 47% below its 200-week average.
SCM Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $14.5 | $10.7 | -26% |
| 2021 | $10.7 | $13.0 | +21% |
| 2022 | $13.0 | $13.0 | +0.5% |
| 2023 | $13.0 | $12.9 | -1.4% |
| 2024 | $12.9 | $13.8 | +7% |
| 2025 | $13.8 | $12.6 | -8.6% |
| 2026 YTD | $12.6 | $6.67 | -47% |
SCM has finished lower in three of the last six years. It's down 47% so far in 2026.