Critical Analysis: Hooker Furnishings (HOFT) & Its Peers

Hooker Furnishings (NASDAQ:HOFT) is one of 150 public companies in the “Household Durables” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Hooker Furnishings to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Dividends

Hooker Furnishings pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Hooker Furnishings pays out -27.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Household Durables” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.3% and pay out 33.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Hooker Furnishings has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Hooker Furnishings has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hooker Furnishings’ competitors have a beta of 1.76, meaning that their average stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Hooker Furnishings and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hooker Furnishings	1	1	0	0	1.50
Hooker Furnishings Competitors	1799	7398	8143	315	2.40

As a group, “Household Durables” companies have a potential upside of 51.86%. Given Hooker Furnishings’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hooker Furnishings has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Hooker Furnishings and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hooker Furnishings	-6.62%	4.32%	3.20%
Hooker Furnishings Competitors	-2.65%	-17.06%	1.20%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.6% of Hooker Furnishings shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.6% of shares of all “Household Durables” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Hooker Furnishings shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of shares of all “Household Durables” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hooker Furnishings and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hooker Furnishings	$270.41 million	-$26.97 million	-7.82
Hooker Furnishings Competitors	$127.74 billion	$320.74 million	8.33

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

Summary

Hooker Furnishings competitors beat Hooker Furnishings on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Hooker Furnishings Company Profile

Hooker Furnishings Corporation designs, manufactures, imports, and markets residential household, hospitality, and contract furniture. It operates in three segments: Hooker Branded, Home Meridian, and Domestic Upholstery. The Hooker Branded segment offers design categories, including home entertainment, home office, accent, dining, and bedroom furniture under the Hooker Furniture brand; and imported upholstered furniture under the Hooker Upholstery brand. The Home Meridian segment provides home furnishings under the Accentrics Home brand; a range of bedroom, dining room, accent, display cabinet, home office, and youth furnishings under the Pulaski Furniture and Samuel Lawrence Furniture brands; and imported leather motion upholstery under the Prime Resources International brand. This segment also designs and supplies hotel furnishings for four and five-star hotels under the Samuel Lawrence Hospitality brand name. The Domestic Upholstery segment offers motion and stationary leather furniture under the Bradington-Young brand; chairs, sofas, sectionals, recliners, and a variety of accent upholstery pieces under the HF Custom brand; and upholstered furniture, such as private label sectionals, modulars, sofas, chairs, ottomans, benches, beds, and dining chairs for lifestyle specialty retailers under the Shenandoah Furniture brand. This segment also designs and manufactures outdoor furniture under the Sunset West brand. The company supplies upholstered seating and casegoods to upscale senior living and assisted living facilities through designers, design firms, industry dealers, and distributors under the H Contract brand; and interior designer products under the Lifestyle Brands name; and lighting, accessories, and home décor products under the BOBO Intriguing Objects brand. It sells home furnishing products through retailers, such as independent furniture stores, department stores, mass merchants, national chains, catalog merchants, interior designers, and e-commerce retailers primarily in North America. Hooker Furnishings Corporation was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in Martinsville, Virginia.