Critical Survey: Kewaunee Scientific (KEQU) versus Its Peers

Kewaunee Scientific (NASDAQ:KEQU) is one of 515 public companies in the “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Kewaunee Scientific to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

32.7% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.1% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are held by institutional investors. 14.1% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Kewaunee Scientific has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kewaunee Scientific’s peers have a beta of 2.56, meaning that their average share price is 156% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kewaunee Scientific	$282.00 million	$9.62 million	11.19
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	$1.89 billion	$144.65 million	8.26

Kewaunee Scientific’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Kewaunee Scientific. Kewaunee Scientific 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.

Profitability

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kewaunee Scientific	2.97%	11.75%	4.78%
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	-276.70%	-157.92%	-22.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Kewaunee Scientific and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kewaunee Scientific	0	1	0	0	2.00
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	4190	10271	17897	791	2.46

As a group, “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 33.34%. Given Kewaunee Scientific’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kewaunee Scientific has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Kewaunee Scientific peers beat Kewaunee Scientific on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Kewaunee Scientific Company Profile

Kewaunee Scientific Corporation designs, manufactures, and installs laboratory, healthcare, and technical furniture and infrastructure products. The company operates through two segments, Domestic and International. Its products include steel and wood casework, fume hoods, adaptable modular systems, moveable workstations, stand-alone benches, biological safety cabinets, and epoxy resin work surfaces and sinks. The company's laboratory products are used in chemistry, physics, biology, and other general science laboratories in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, industrial, chemical, commercial, educational, government, and health care markets; and technical products are used in facilities manufacturing computers and light electronics and by users of computer and networking furniture. It sells its products primarily through dealers, its subidiaries, and a national distributor. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Statesville, North Carolina.