Natural Health Trends (NASDAQ:NHTC) & CECONOMY (OTCMKTS:MTTRY) Critical Analysis

Natural Health Trends (NASDAQ:NHTC) and CECONOMY (OTCMKTS:MTTRY) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Natural Health Trends and CECONOMY, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Natural Health Trends	0	0	0	0	0.00
CECONOMY	0	0	0	1	4.00

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Natural Health Trends and CECONOMY”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Natural Health Trends	$42.96 million	1.15	$570,000.00	$0.03	143.67
CECONOMY	$24.34 billion	N/A	$82.44 million	$0.05	19.80

CECONOMY has higher revenue and earnings than Natural Health Trends. CECONOMY is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Natural Health Trends, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Natural Health Trends and CECONOMY’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Natural Health Trends	0.83%	1.09%	0.66%
CECONOMY	0.71%	37.53%	2.04%

Risk & Volatility

Natural Health Trends has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CECONOMY has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.1% of Natural Health Trends shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.3% of Natural Health Trends shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CECONOMY beats Natural Health Trends on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Natural Health Trends

Natural Health Trends Corp., a direct-selling and e-commerce company, provides personal care, wellness, and lifestyle products under the NHT Global brand. The company offers wellness products, including liquid, encapsulated, tableted and powder dietary and nutritional supplements, vitamins, and minerals; and herbal products comprising herbal supplements. It also provides beauty products, such as age-defying and hydrating cleansers, creams, lotions, serums, and toners; and lifestyle products, which include weight management and energy enhancing supplements, as well as topical gels. In addition, the company offers home appliances; and daily products, such as oral care, hair care, and body care. It sells its products directly to consumers, as well as through an e-commerce retail platform in the United States, Canada, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Peru, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Europe. The company was formerly known as Florida Institute of Massage Therapy, Inc. and changed its name to Natural Health Trends Corp. in June 1993. Natural Health Trends Corp. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

About CECONOMY

Ceconomy AG, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the consumer electronics retail business. It operates stores under the MediaMarkt and Saturn brands. The company offers professional assistance for the installation, connection, and troubleshooting of electronic devices at home under the Deutsche Technikberatung brand. It operates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary, as well as in Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe. Ceconomy AG is based in Düsseldorf, Germany.