Critical Comparison: Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) & Vuzix (NASDAQ:VUZI)

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) and Vuzix (NASDAQ:VUZI) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Littelfuse and Vuzix”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Littelfuse	$2.39 billion	4.57	-$71.70 million	($0.50)	-858.44
Vuzix	$6.28 million	39.52	-$32.27 million	($0.39)	-7.54

Vuzix has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Littelfuse. Littelfuse is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vuzix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.1% of Littelfuse shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.9% of Vuzix shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Littelfuse shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of Vuzix shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Littelfuse and Vuzix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Littelfuse	-0.31%	13.02%	8.32%
Vuzix	-519.11%	-125.60%	-78.58%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Littelfuse and Vuzix, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Littelfuse	0	2	4	0	2.67
Vuzix	1	0	1	0	2.00

Littelfuse presently has a consensus price target of $465.83, suggesting a potential upside of 8.53%. Given Littelfuse’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than Vuzix.

Volatility & Risk

Littelfuse has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vuzix has a beta of 1.81, indicating that its stock price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Littelfuse beats Vuzix on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors. This segment serves industrial motor drives and power conversion, automotive electronics, electric vehicle and related charging infrastructure, aerospace, power supplies, data centers, telecommunications, medical devices, alternative energy, building and home automation, appliances, and mobile electronics markets. The Transportation segment provides blade, resettable, and high-current and high-voltage fuses, as well as battery cable protectors; fuses, switches, relays, circuit breakers, and power distribution modules; and sensor products. This segment serves heavy-duty truck, construction, agriculture, material handling, and marine. The Industrial segment offers industrial fuses, protection relays, contactors, transformers, residual current devices, ground fault circuit interrupters, residual current monitors, arc fault detection devices, and temperature sensors for use in renewable energy and energy storage systems, electric vehicle infrastructure, HVAC systems, industrial safety, non-residential construction, MRO, mining, and factory automation. It sells its products through distributors, direct sales force, and manufacturers' representatives. Littelfuse, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Vuzix

Vuzix Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technologies and products for the enterprise, medical, defense, and consumer markets. The company’s products include head-mounted smart personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays, and augmented reality, as well as original equipment manufacturer waveguide optical components and display engines. It also provides certified ERP SaaS logistics solution to support hand-held mobile phones and scanners used in logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing applications. It holds approximately 375 patents and patents pending and various IP licenses in the fields of optics, head-mounted displays, and augmented reality Video Eyewear field. It sells its products through resellers, distributors, direct to commercial customers, and online stores, as well as various Vuzix operated web stores in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Icuiti Corporation and changed its name to Vuzix Corporation in September 2007. Vuzix Corporation was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in West Henrietta, New York.