Comparing LL Flooring (NYSE:LL) & Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT)

LL Flooring (NYSE:LL) and Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LL Flooring and Haverty Furniture Companies’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LL Flooring	$904.75 million	0.06	-$103.49 million	($3.59)	-0.46
Haverty Furniture Companies	$862.13 million	0.54	$56.32 million	$2.75	10.43

Haverty Furniture Companies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than LL Flooring. LL Flooring is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Haverty Furniture Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.3% of LL Flooring shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of Haverty Furniture Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of LL Flooring shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Haverty Furniture Companies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

LL Flooring has a beta of 1.85, meaning that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Haverty Furniture Companies has a beta of 1.54, meaning that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for LL Flooring and Haverty Furniture Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LL Flooring	1	0	0	0	1.00
Haverty Furniture Companies	0	0	1	0	3.00

LL Flooring currently has a consensus target price of $3.25, suggesting a potential upside of 95.78%. Haverty Furniture Companies has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 56.96%. Given LL Flooring’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LL Flooring is more favorable than Haverty Furniture Companies.

Profitability

This table compares LL Flooring and Haverty Furniture Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LL Flooring	-11.44%	-44.10%	-15.43%
Haverty Furniture Companies	5.64%	14.94%	7.00%

Summary

Haverty Furniture Companies beats LL Flooring on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LL Flooring

LL Flooring Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel specialty retailer of hard and soft surface flooring, and hard and soft surface flooring enhancements and accessories. The company offers hard and soft surface flooring including, waterproof hybrid resilient, waterproof vinyl plank, solid and engineered hardwood, laminate, bamboo, tile, and cork products; and flooring enhancements and accessories, including moldings, underlayment, adhesives, and tools, as well as Duravana, a hybrid resilient flooring under the Bellawood, Coreluxe, ReNature by Coreluxe, and Duravana brand names. It also provides in-home delivery and installation services. The company also offers its products through stores, digital platform, and catalogs. The company was formerly known as Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. in January 2022. LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

About Haverty Furniture Companies

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of residential furniture and accessories in the United States. The company offers furniture merchandise under the Havertys brand name. It also provides custom upholstery products and eclectic looks; and mattress product lines under the Tempur-Pedic, Serta, Sealy, and Stearns and Foster names. The company sells home furnishings through its retail stores, as well as through its website. Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.