Head to Head Survey: Littelfuse (LFUS) vs. Its Competitors

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) is one of 56 publicly-traded companies in the “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Littelfuse to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Dividends

Littelfuse pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Littelfuse pays out 64.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out 40.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Littelfuse has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Littelfuse lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Littelfuse and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Littelfuse	$2.21 billion	$100.19 million	52.25
Littelfuse Competitors	$2.49 billion	$167.51 million	33.39

Littelfuse’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Littelfuse. Littelfuse is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Littelfuse has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Littelfuse’s peers have a beta of 1.00, indicating that their average share price is 0% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Littelfuse and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Littelfuse	4.89%	9.00%	5.65%
Littelfuse Competitors	3.57%	-15.55%	1.52%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.1% of Littelfuse shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.3% of shares of all “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Littelfuse shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Littelfuse and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Littelfuse	0	4	2	0	2.33
Littelfuse Competitors	82	1246	1568	107	2.57

Littelfuse currently has a consensus price target of $252.25, suggesting a potential upside of 11.75%. As a group, “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” companies have a potential upside of 5.16%. Given Littelfuse’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Littelfuse peers beat Littelfuse on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Littelfuse Company Profile

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors. This segment serves industrial motor drives and power conversion, automotive electronics, electric vehicle and related charging infrastructure, aerospace, power supplies, data centers, telecommunications, medical devices, alternative energy, building and home automation, appliances, and mobile electronics markets. The Transportation segment provides blade, resettable, and high-current and high-voltage fuses, as well as battery cable protectors; fuses, switches, relays, circuit breakers, and power distribution modules; and sensor products. This segment serves heavy-duty truck, construction, agriculture, material handling, and marine. The Industrial segment offers industrial fuses, protection relays, contactors, transformers, residual current devices, ground fault circuit interrupters, residual current monitors, arc fault detection devices, and temperature sensors for use in renewable energy and energy storage systems, electric vehicle infrastructure, HVAC systems, industrial safety, non-residential construction, MRO, mining, and factory automation. It sells its products through distributors, direct sales force, and manufacturers' representatives. Littelfuse, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.