Critical Review: Kewaunee Scientific (KEQU) & The Competition

Kewaunee Scientific (NASDAQ:KEQU) is one of 515 publicly-traded companies in the “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Kewaunee Scientific to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

Kewaunee Scientific pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Kewaunee Scientific pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.3% and pay out 52.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Kewaunee Scientific and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kewaunee Scientific	0	1	0	0	2.00
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	4176	10253	17859	789	2.46

As a group, “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 26.68%. Given Kewaunee Scientific’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kewaunee Scientific has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

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

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kewaunee Scientific	$282.00 million	$9.62 million	11.49
Kewaunee Scientific Competitors	$1.88 billion	$143.04 million	8.42

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

Profitability

This table compares Kewaunee Scientific and its peers’ 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	-275.43%	-157.35%	-22.23%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.7% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.1% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by institutional investors. 14.1% of Kewaunee Scientific shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kewaunee Scientific peers beat Kewaunee Scientific on 10 of the 15 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.