SEB (OTCMKTS:SEBYF) and La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) Head to Head Review

SEB (OTCMKTS:SEBYF) and La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for SEB and La-Z-Boy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SEB	0	0	0	0	0.00
La-Z-Boy	0	1	4	0	2.80

La-Z-Boy has a consensus price target of $39.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.93%. Given La-Z-Boy’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe La-Z-Boy is more favorable than SEB.

Dividends

SEB pays an annual dividend of C$1.39 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. La-Z-Boy pays an annual dividend of $0.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. SEB pays out 39.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. La-Z-Boy pays out 39.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. La-Z-Boy has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SEB and La-Z-Boy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SEB	N/A	N/A	N/A	C$3.49	15.43
La-Z-Boy	$2.13 billion	0.78	$101.99 million	$2.47	16.79

La-Z-Boy has higher revenue and earnings than SEB. SEB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than La-Z-Boy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares SEB and La-Z-Boy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SEB	N/A	N/A	N/A
La-Z-Boy	4.80%	11.97%	6.27%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

18.4% of SEB shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.6% of La-Z-Boy shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of La-Z-Boy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

La-Z-Boy beats SEB on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SEB

SEB SA designs, manufactures, and markets small domestic equipment worldwide. It offers kitchen electrics, such as deep fryers, rice cookers, electrical pressure cookers, informal meal appliances, waffle makers, grills, toasters, multicookers, filter and pod coffee makers, espresso machines, electrical kettles, home beer-taps, soy milk makers, blenders, cooking food processors, kitchen machines, mixers, and beaters. The company also provides home and personal care, which includes irons and steam generators, garment steamers, canister vacuum cleaners with or without dust bag, steam and upright vacuum cleaners, vacuum weepers, versatile vacuums, fans, heaters, air treatment appliances, hair care appliances, depilators, and bathroom scales. In addition, it offers cookware comprising frying pans, saucepans pots, pressure cookers, bakeware, kitchen utensils, food storage containers, carafes, flasks, thermo mugs, cutlery, and woks. Further, the company designs, produces, and markets crepe makers, waffle makers, planchas, and grills for professionals and consumers. The company provides its products under various consumer brands including Arno, Asia Vina, Calor, Clock, EMSA, imusa, Kaiser, Krupus, Maharaj Whiteline, MIRRO, Moulinex, OBH NORDICA, PANEX, Rochedo, Rowenta, Samurai, Seb, SUPOR, Tefal T-fal, umco, and WearEver brands. It offers products under premium brands, which includes All-Clad, Krampouz, Lagostina, Silit, WMF, and Forge Adour brands; and professional brands, such as HEPP, Schaerer, Wilbur Curtis, and Zummo brands. The company was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Écully, France.

About La-Z-Boy

La-Z-Boy Incorporated manufactures, markets, imports, exports, distributes, and retails upholstery furniture products, accessories, and casegoods furniture products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Wholesale, Retail, Corporate and Other segments. The Wholesale segment manufactures, and imports upholstered furniture, such as recliners and motion furniture, sofas, loveseats, chairs, sectionals, modulars, ottomans, and sleeper sofas; and imports, distributes, and retails casegoods (wood) furniture, including occasional pieces, bedroom sets, dining room sets, entertainment centers, and occasional pieces. This segment sells its products directly to La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores, operators of La-Z-Boy Comfort Studio locations, England Custom Comfort Center locations, dealers, and other independent retailers. The Retail segment sells upholstered furniture, casegoods, and other accessories to the end consumer through its retail network. The company also produces reclining chairs; and manufactures and distributes residential furniture. Its Corporate and Other segment sells the products through its website. The company was formerly known as La-Z-Boy Chair Company and changed its name to La-Z-Boy Incorporated in 1996. La-Z-Boy Incorporated was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Monroe, Michigan.