Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) vs. Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) Head-To-Head Survey

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) and Barnes & Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.6% of Lifetime Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.5% of Barnes & Noble Education shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.4% of Lifetime Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Barnes & Noble Education shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Barnes & Noble Education’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifetime Brands	-4.22%	8.01%	2.76%
Barnes & Noble Education	-0.57%	-20.37%	-5.70%

Volatility & Risk

Lifetime Brands has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barnes & Noble Education has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Lifetime Brands and Barnes & Noble Education, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifetime Brands	1	2	1	0	2.00
Barnes & Noble Education	1	0	0	0	1.00

Lifetime Brands presently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.50%. Given Lifetime Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lifetime Brands is more favorable than Barnes & Noble Education.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Barnes & Noble Education”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lifetime Brands	$647.93 million	0.26	-$26.94 million	($1.27)	-5.77
Barnes & Noble Education	$1.73 billion	0.18	-$65.82 million	($0.32)	-28.11

Lifetime Brands has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Barnes & Noble Education. Barnes & Noble Education is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lifetime Brands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Lifetime Brands beats Barnes & Noble Education on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands, Inc. designs, sources, and sells branded kitchenware, tableware, and other products for use in the home in the worldwide. The company provides kitchenware products, including kitchen tools and gadgets, cutlery, kitchen scales, thermometers, cutting boards, shears, cookware, pantryware, spice racks, and bakeware; and tableware products comprising dinnerware, stemware, flatware, and giftware. It also provides home solutions, such as thermal beverageware, bath scales, weather and outdoor household, food storage, neoprene travel, and home décor products. The company owns or licenses various brands, including the Farberware, Mikasa, Taylor, KitchenAid, Pfaltzgraff, BUILT NY, Rabbit, Kamenstein, S’well, and Fred & Friends. It serves mass market merchants, specialty stores, department stores, warehouse clubs, grocery stores, off-price retailers, food service distributors, food and beverage outlets, and e-commerce. The company sells its products directly, as well as through its retail websites. Lifetime Brands, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Garden City, New York.

About Barnes & Noble Education

Barnes and Noble Education, Inc. engages in the management and operation of bookstore chains in universities. It operates through the Retail and Wholesale segments. The Retail segment operates college, university, and K-12 school bookstores, physical bookstores, and virtual bookstores. The Wholesale segment sells and distributes new and used textbooks to physical bookstores. The company was founded by Leonard S, Riggio in 1965 and is headquartered in Basking Ridge, NJ.