Critical Contrast: LSI Industries (LYTS) and Its Peers

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

Risk & Volatility

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LSI Industries and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
LSI Industries	$689.40 million	$22.58 million	29.25
LSI Industries Competitors	$2.32 billion	$137.32 million	20.51

LSI Industries’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than LSI Industries. LSI Industries is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

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 27.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. LSI Industries lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LSI Industries	3.28%	7.51%	3.71%
LSI Industries Competitors	-218.47%	-115.47%	-8.79%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for LSI Industries and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LSI Industries	0	2	3	0	2.60
LSI Industries Competitors	2164	5003	6950	417	2.39

LSI Industries presently has a consensus target price of $29.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.96%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 22.93%. Given LSI Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe LSI Industries is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

LSI Industries beats its competitors 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.