Head-To-Head Survey: LG Display (NYSE:LPL) versus Identiv (NASDAQ:INVE)

LG Display (NYSE:LPL) and Identiv (NASDAQ:INVE) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for LG Display and Identiv, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LG Display	1	3	0	0	1.75
Identiv	0	0	3	0	3.00

Identiv has a consensus target price of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 87.32%. Given Identiv’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Identiv is more favorable than LG Display.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LG Display and Identiv”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LG Display	$27,427.67 billion	0.00	-$1.79 billion	($1.78)	-1.92
Identiv	$26.63 million	3.08	$74.82 million	$3.03	1.15

Identiv has lower revenue, but higher earnings than LG Display. LG Display is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Identiv, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares LG Display and Identiv’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LG Display	-7.17%	-24.14%	-6.06%
Identiv	287.10%	-16.54%	-14.59%

Volatility & Risk

LG Display has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Identiv has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

65.2% of Identiv shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of LG Display shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Identiv shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Identiv beats LG Display on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LG Display

LG Display Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology-based display panels. Its TFT-LCD and OLED technology-based display panels are primarily used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablet computers, mobile devices, and automotive displays. The company also provides display panels for industrial and other applications, including entertainment systems, portable navigation devices, and medical diagnostic equipment. In addition, it provides janitorial services; invests in venture business and acquire technologies; and manages intellectual property. The company operates in Korea, China, rest of Asia, the Americas, Poland, and rest of Europe. LG Display Co., Ltd. was formerly known as LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd. and changed its name to LG Display Co., Ltd. in March 2008. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

About Identiv

Identiv, Inc., a security technology company, that provides secure identification and physical security solutions that secure things, data, and physical places worldwide. It operates in two segments, Identity and Premises. The Identity segment offers products and solutions that enables secure access to information serving the logical access and cyber security markets, as well as protecting connected objects and information using radio-frequency identification embedded security. The Premises segment provides solutions for premises security market, such as access control, video surveillance, analytics, audio, access readers, and identities to government facilities, schools, utilities, hospitals, stores, and apartment buildings. The company sells its products through dealers, systems integrators, value added resellers, and resellers. The company was formerly known as Identive Group, Inc. and changed its name to Identiv, Inc. in May 2014. Identiv, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.