Critical Contrast: LSI Industries (LYTS) & Its Peers

LSI Industries (NASDAQ:LYTS) is one of 218 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare LSI Industries to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk and dividends.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LSI Industries	3.28%	8.04%	4.23%
LSI Industries Competitors	-218.47%	-87.34%	-8.78%

Dividends

LSI Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. LSI Industries pays out 29.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out 27.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. LSI Industries lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
LSI Industries	$689.40 million	$22.58 million	30.19
LSI Industries Competitors	$2.33 billion	$137.32 million	21.32

LSI Industries’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than LSI Industries. LSI Industries 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.

Volatility and Risk

LSI Industries has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LSI Industries’ peers have a beta of -19.47, meaning that their average share price is 2,047% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.9% of LSI Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.3% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of LSI Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for LSI Industries and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LSI Industries	0	2	3	0	2.60
LSI Industries Competitors	2161	5000	6943	417	2.39

LSI Industries presently has a consensus price target of $29.00, suggesting a potential upside of 43.35%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 24.26%. Given LSI Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe LSI Industries is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

LSI Industries beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

LSI Industries Company Profile

LSI Industries Inc. produces and sells non-residential lighting and retail display solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Lighting and Display Solutions. The Lighting segment manufactures, markets, and sells non-residential outdoor and indoor lighting fixture and control solutions in the commercial and industrial markets. This segment also offers lighting control products, including sensors, photocontrols, dimmers, motion detection, and Bluetooth systems to support lighting fixtures; and designs, engineers, and manufactures electronic circuit boards, assemblies, and sub-assemblies. The Display Solutions segment manufactures, sells, and installs exterior and interior visual image and display elements, including printed and structural graphics, digital signage, menu board systems, display fixtures, refrigerated displays, and custom display elements. This segments products and services include signage and canopy graphics, pump dispenser graphics, building fascia graphics, decals, interior signage and marketing graphics, aisle markers, wall mural graphics, and refrigerated and non-refrigerated merchandising displays. This segment also provides project management services comprising installation management, site surveys, permitting, and content management; and manages and executes the implementation of large rollout programs. It serves refueling and convenience store, parking lot and garage, quick-service restaurant, retail and grocery store, automotive, warehouse, sports court, and field markets, as well as warehouses. LSI Industries Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.