# Blackrock Debt Strategies Fund Inc. (DSU) fundamentals

Data as of 2026-09-08. NYSE, United States. Sector: Financial Services / Capital Markets. Price $9.38, market value $608 million.

## Valuation
- **P/E (trailing): 21.3×** (5-yr avg 7.5×, 3-yr avg 7.5×). Blackrock Debt Strategies Fund Inc. trades at 21.3× trailing earnings, well above its own five-year average of 7.5×: investors are paying up relative to the company's past. The Financial Services median in the September 2026 study was 13.1×.
- **Price / sales: 15.5×**. Each dollar of revenue is priced at 15.5×, a level that requires very high margins or very fast growth to justify.
- **Price / book: 0.9×**. The shares trade below book value, which can signal a bargain or a balance sheet the market doubts.
- **Free-cash-flow yield: -8.9%** (5-yr avg 23.1%). Free cash flow is negative: the business is consuming cash, which is normal for heavy investment phases but a warning otherwise.
- **Earnings yield: 4.7%**. The inverse of the P/E: 4.7% of the price is earned each year.

## Profitability
- **Net margin: 98.8%**. 98.8% of each dollar of sales reaches the bottom line.
- **Return on equity: 6.1%**. 6.1% on shareholders' equity is weak; the business earns little on the capital its owners have in it.
- **Return on assets: 5.1%**. Each dollar of assets produces 5.1% of profit; low single digits are normal for banks and insurers.

## Growth
- **Revenue growth (1 yr): -12.0%**. Revenue fell 12.0% over the last year.

## Financial health
- **Cash and short-term investments: $2 million**. Leverage ratios are shown differently for banks and insurers, whose balance sheets are built on deposits and reserves; use return on equity and the regulatory capital in the filings instead.

## Dividends
- **Dividend yield: 12.63%** ($0.59 per share, trailing). Blackrock Debt Strategies Fund Inc. yields 12.63%, high enough to check carefully: yields this high often precede a cut.
- **Payout ratio: 169%**. The dividend exceeds earnings (169% payout), which is rarely sustainable outside REITs and one-off years.
- **Consecutive years of increases: 3**. 3 straight years of increases.
- **Dividend growth (5 yr): 7.4%/yr** (1-yr 0.0%). The dividend has grown 7.4% a year over five years.
- **Shareholder yield: -5.1%**. Dividends plus net buybacks return -5.1% of the market value a year.

## Price and momentum
- **Total return (1 yr): -1.0%** (YTD -1.1%, 3-mo -0.7%). The shares are down 1.0% over twelve months including dividends.
- **From 52-week high: -12.1%** (0.8% above the low). Trading 12% below its 52-week high.
- **200-day average: below**. The price sits below its 200-day moving average, the usual definition of a downtrend.
- **RSI (14-day): 41**. An RSI of 41 is neutral.
- **Beta (1 yr): 0.32** (volatility 8%). Beta of 0.32 against the S&P 500: the shares move much less than the market.

Live score and charts: https://foliofundamentals.com/analyzer?s=DSU · Page: https://foliofundamentals.com/stocks/dsu

Not investment advice.