Reviewing Littelfuse (LFUS) and Its Rivals

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) is one of 56 public companies in the “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Littelfuse to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends 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 0.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Littelfuse has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Littelfuse lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

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

Risk & Volatility

Littelfuse has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Littelfuse’s competitors have a beta of 0.98, meaning that their average stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Littelfuse and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Littelfuse	$2.19 billion	$100.19 million	54.71
Littelfuse Competitors	$2.49 billion	$167.53 million	35.70

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Littelfuse and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Littelfuse	0	4	2	0	2.33
Littelfuse Competitors	82	1247	1571	107	2.57

Littelfuse presently has a consensus price target of $252.25, indicating a potential upside of 6.72%. As a group, “ELEC – MISC COMPONENTS” companies have a potential upside of 1.36%. Given Littelfuse’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

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

About Littelfuse

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.