Critical Review: Lifetime Brands (LCUT) vs. Its Peers

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) is one of 47 public companies in the “CONSM PD – MISC DIS” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Lifetime Brands to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, profitability and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Lifetime Brands has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lifetime Brands’ competitors have a beta of 1.74, indicating that their average stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Lifetime Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Lifetime Brands pays out -13.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “CONSM PD – MISC DIS” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 64.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lifetime Brands and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lifetime Brands	$647.93 million	-$26.94 million	-5.46
Lifetime Brands Competitors	$2.79 billion	$75.88 million	-3.40

Lifetime Brands’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Lifetime Brands. Lifetime Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Lifetime Brands and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifetime Brands	1	2	1	0	2.00
Lifetime Brands Competitors	306	1087	1058	50	2.34

Lifetime Brands presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential downside of 26.14%. As a group, “CONSM PD – MISC DIS” companies have a potential upside of 11.49%. Given Lifetime Brands’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lifetime Brands has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Lifetime Brands and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifetime Brands	-4.16%	4.66%	1.62%
Lifetime Brands Competitors	-13.55%	-7.32%	-1.87%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

40.6% of Lifetime Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.3% of shares of all “CONSM PD – MISC DIS” companies are held by institutional investors. 43.2% of Lifetime Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.4% of shares of all “CONSM PD – MISC DIS” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Lifetime Brands competitors beat Lifetime Brands on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

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.