Head to Head Review: Kewaunee Scientific (KEQU) vs. Its Competitors

Kewaunee Scientific (NASDAQ:KEQU) is one of 516 public companies in the “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Kewaunee Scientific to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.7% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.9% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by institutional investors. 14.1% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kewaunee Scientific	$282.00 million	$9.62 million	11.38
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	$1.87 billion	$142.44 million	8.42

Kewaunee Scientific’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Kewaunee Scientific. Kewaunee Scientific 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.

Volatility and Risk

Kewaunee Scientific has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kewaunee Scientific’s competitors have a beta of 2.56, meaning that their average stock price is 156% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Kewaunee Scientific and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kewaunee Scientific	0	1	0	0	2.00
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	4178	10245	17855	789	2.46

As a group, “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 26.72%. Given Kewaunee Scientific’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kewaunee Scientific has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kewaunee Scientific	3.41%	14.10%	5.55%
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	-275.90%	-162.28%	-22.94%

Summary

Kewaunee Scientific competitors beat Kewaunee Scientific on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Kewaunee Scientific

Kewaunee Scientific Corporation designs, manufactures, and installs laboratory, healthcare, and technical furniture and infrastructure products. The company operates through two segments, Domestic and International. Its products include steel and wood casework, fume hoods, adaptable modular systems, moveable workstations, stand-alone benches, biological safety cabinets, and epoxy resin work surfaces and sinks. The company's laboratory products are used in chemistry, physics, biology, and other general science laboratories in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, industrial, chemical, commercial, educational, government, and health care markets; and technical products are used in facilities manufacturing computers and light electronics and by users of computer and networking furniture. It sells its products primarily through dealers, its subidiaries, and a national distributor. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Statesville, North Carolina.