Comparing Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) and TTM Technologies (NASDAQ:TTMI)

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) and TTM Technologies (NASDAQ:TTMI) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Littelfuse and TTM Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Littelfuse	0	1	2	2	3.20
TTM Technologies	0	1	4	1	3.00

Littelfuse presently has a consensus target price of $364.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.24%. TTM Technologies has a consensus target price of $117.25, suggesting a potential upside of 27.72%. Given TTM Technologies’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe TTM Technologies is more favorable than Littelfuse.

Risk & Volatility

Littelfuse has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TTM Technologies has a beta of 1.75, meaning that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Littelfuse and TTM Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Littelfuse	-3.00%	10.53%	6.65%
TTM Technologies	6.11%	13.30%	6.09%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Littelfuse and TTM Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Littelfuse	$2.39 billion	3.75	-$71.70 million	($2.90)	-123.98
TTM Technologies	$2.91 billion	3.26	$177.45 million	$1.69	54.32

TTM Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Littelfuse. Littelfuse is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TTM Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.1% of Littelfuse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.8% of TTM Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Littelfuse shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of TTM Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

TTM Technologies beats Littelfuse on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About TTM Technologies

TTM Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells mission systems, radio frequency (RF) components and RF microwave/microelectronic assemblies, and printed circuit boards (PCB) worldwide. The company operates in two segments, PCB and RF&S Components. It offers range of engineered systems, RF and microwave assemblies, HDI PCBs, flexible PCBs, rigid-flex PCBs, custom assemblies and system integration, IC substrates, passive RF components, advanced ceramic RF components, hi-reliability multi-chip modules, beamforming and switching networks, PCB products, RF components, and backplane/custom assembly solutions, including conventional PCBs. It also provides advanced ceramic RF components including standard and etched thick-film ceramic substrates; and hi-reliability multi-chip modules. In addition, the company offers radar systems including maritime surveillance and weather avoidance radar systems, surveillance products, communication systems, RF assembly and test services, and passive RF components. Further, the company provides custom designed application specific integrated circuits, high density interconnect, IC substrates, flexible and rigid flex PCBs, and custom assemblies including backplane and mid-plane assemblies, flexible and rigid-flex assemblies, and RF assemblies, as well as conventional PCBs, such as single-sided, double-sided, and multi-layer boards. Additionally, it offers quick turnaround services, which includes prototype production and ramp-to-volume production, and thermal management. The company serves original equipment manufacturers and electronic manufacturing services providers, original design manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies; and aerospace and defense, data center computing, automotive, medical, industrial, and instrumentation, as well as networking applications. TTM Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.