Powell Industries (NASDAQ: POWL) and Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) are both industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitabiliy, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.
Dividends
Powell Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Littelfuse pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Powell Industries pays out 128.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Littelfuse pays out 24.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Profitability
This table compares Powell Industries and Littelfuse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Powell Industries | 1.94% | 3.31% | 2.47% |
| Littelfuse | 11.06% | 18.47% | 10.28% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Powell Industries and Littelfuse, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Powell Industries | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Littelfuse | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
Littelfuse has a consensus target price of $186.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.64%. Given Littelfuse’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than Powell Industries.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
64.1% of Powell Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.4% of Littelfuse shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.0% of Powell Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Littelfuse shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Powell Industries and Littelfuse’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Powell Industries | $478.02 million | 0.80 | $22.18 million | $0.81 | 41.25 |
| Littelfuse | $1.12 billion | 3.71 | $243.46 million | $5.43 | 33.70 |
Littelfuse has higher revenue and earnings than Powell Industries. Littelfuse is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Powell Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
Powell Industries has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Littelfuse has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Littelfuse beats Powell Industries on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
Powell Industries Company Profile
Powell Industries, Inc. develops design, manufactures and services custom-engineered equipment and systems for the distribution, control and monitoring of electrical energy designed to distribute, control and monitor the flow of electrical energy, and provide protection to motors, transformers and other electrically powered equipment. The Company’s principal products include integrated power control room substations (PCRs), custom-engineered modules, electrical houses (E-Houses), traditional and arc-resistant distribution switchgear and control gear, medium-voltage circuit breakers, monitoring and control communications systems, motor control centers and bus duct systems. These products are designed for application voltages ranging from 480 volts to 38,000 volts, and are used in oil and gas refining, offshore oil and gas production, petrochemical, pipeline, terminal, mining and metals, light rail traction power, electric utility, pulp and paper, and other heavy industrial markets.
Littelfuse Company Profile
Littelfuse, Inc. is a supplier of circuit protection products for the electronics, automotive and industrial markets. The Company operates through three segments. The Electronics segment provides circuit protection components for overcurrent and overvoltage protection, as well as sensor components and modules to manufacturers of a range of electronic products. The Automotive segment provides circuit protection and sensor products to the worldwide automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and parts distributors of passenger automobiles, trucks, buses, and off-road equipment. The Industrial Segment provides circuit protection products for industrial and commercial customers. The Company also offers electronic reed switches and sensors, automotive sensors for comfort and safety systems and a range of electromechanical and electronic switch and control devices for commercial and specialty vehicles.
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