Contrasting Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) and Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT)

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) and Unicharm (OTCMKTS:UNICY) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.6% of Lifetime Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 43.2% of Lifetime Brands 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Lifetime Brands and Unicharm, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifetime Brands	1	2	1	0	2.00
Unicharm	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lifetime Brands presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.20%. Given Lifetime Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Lifetime Brands is more favorable than Unicharm.

Profitability

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Unicharm’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifetime Brands	-5.49%	-0.85%	-0.30%
Unicharm	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Lifetime Brands has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unicharm has a beta of 0.24, suggesting that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Lifetime Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Unicharm pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Lifetime Brands pays out -10.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unicharm pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Lifetime Brands is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Unicharm”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lifetime Brands	$659.07 million	0.13	-$15.16 million	($1.66)	-2.33
Unicharm	$6.54 billion	1.57	$540.15 million	$0.17	17.41

Unicharm has higher revenue and earnings than Lifetime Brands. Lifetime Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unicharm, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands, Inc. designs, sources, and sells branded kitchenware, tableware, and other products for use in the home in the worldwide. The company provides kitchenware products, including kitchen tools and gadgets, cutlery, kitchen scales, thermometers, cutting boards, shears, cookware, pantryware, spice racks, and bakeware; and tableware products comprising dinnerware, stemware, flatware, and giftware. It also provides home solutions, such as thermal beverageware, bath scales, weather and outdoor household, food storage, neoprene travel, and home décor products. The company owns or licenses various brands, including the Farberware, Mikasa, Taylor, KitchenAid, Pfaltzgraff, BUILT NY, Rabbit, Kamenstein, S’well, and Fred & Friends. It serves mass market merchants, specialty stores, department stores, warehouse clubs, grocery stores, off-price retailers, food service distributors, food and beverage outlets, and e-commerce. The company sells its products directly, as well as through its retail websites. Lifetime Brands, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Garden City, New York.

About Unicharm

Unicharm Corporation engages in the manufacturing and sale of wellness, feminine, baby and children, kirei, and pet care products in Japan and internationally. The company's baby and child care products, including disposable diapers and wipes under the Moony, MamyPoko, Oyasumiman, and Torepanman brands; feminine care products comprise napkins, tampons, panty liners, sanitary short, panty liners, and other feminine care products under the Sofy, Center-In, and Unicharm brand names; and wellness care products include napkin-type incontinence pads, pants-type diapers, tape-type diapers, pants-type specialized urine pads, and tape-type specialized urine pads under the Lifree and Charmnap brand. It also provides masks under the Unicharm brand; home care products, including cleaning sheets under the Wave brand name; cosmetic cotton and wet wipes under the Silcot brand; and paper towels under the Cook Up brand name. In addition, the company offers pet care products that include pet foods, excrement cleanup sheets, system toilets, and disposable diapers under the Grand Deli, Best Balance, Physicalife Dog, Silver Plate, Aiken Genki, Manner Wear, Deo Sheet, Silver Spoon, AllWell, Physicalife Cat, Deo Toilet, Deo Sand, Deo Clean, and Neko Genki brands; and deodorizing beads. Further, it is involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial materials related products, etc., as well as food-packaging materials. Unicharm Corporation was incorporated in 1941 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.