Reviewing LightInTheBox Holding Co. (LITB) and Liberty Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ:QVCA)

Liberty Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ: QVCA) and LightInTheBox Holding Co. (NYSE:LITB) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Liberty Interactive Corporation has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightInTheBox Holding Co. has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.0% of Liberty Interactive Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of LightInTheBox Holding Co. shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.7% of Liberty Interactive Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 62.2% of LightInTheBox Holding Co. shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Liberty Interactive Corporation and LightInTheBox Holding Co., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liberty Interactive Corporation	0	1	7	0	2.88
LightInTheBox Holding Co.	0	0	0	0	N/A

Liberty Interactive Corporation presently has a consensus target price of $29.71, suggesting a potential upside of 31.42%. Given Liberty Interactive Corporation’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Liberty Interactive Corporation is more favorable than LightInTheBox Holding Co..

Profitability

This table compares Liberty Interactive Corporation and LightInTheBox Holding Co.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty Interactive Corporation	4.47%	10.65%	3.71%
LightInTheBox Holding Co.	-3.01%	-9.62%	-5.61%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Liberty Interactive Corporation and LightInTheBox Holding Co.’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Interactive Corporation	$10.10 billion	1.01	$1.79 billion	$0.97	23.31
LightInTheBox Holding Co.	$297.89 million	0.68	-$8.31 million	($0.13)	-22.62

Liberty Interactive Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than LightInTheBox Holding Co.. LightInTheBox Holding Co. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Liberty Interactive Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Liberty Interactive Corporation beats LightInTheBox Holding Co. on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Liberty Interactive Corporation

Liberty Interactive Corporation owns interests in subsidiaries and other companies, which are primarily engaged in the video and online commerce industries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company operates in North America, Europe and Asia. Its principal businesses and assets include its subsidiaries QVC, Inc. (QVC), zulily, llc (zulily) and and Evite, Inc. (Evite). The Company’s segments include QVC, zulily, and Corporate and other. Evite is an online invitation and social event planning service on the Web. As of December 31, 2016, QVC marketed and sold a range of consumer products primarily through live merchandise-focused televised shopping programs distributed to approximately 362 million households each day and through its Websites, including QVC.com, and other interactive media, such as mobile applications. Zulily’s merchandise includes women’s, children’s and men’s apparel, children’s merchandise and other products, such as kitchen accessories and home decor.

About LightInTheBox Holding Co.

LightInTheBox Holding Co., Ltd. (LightInTheBox) is an online retail company that delivers products directly to consumers around the world. The Company offers a range of products through www.lightinthebox.com, www.miniinthebox.com and its other Websites, as well as mobile applications, which are available in approximately 30 languages. It has over 687,800 product listings. The Company also offers a range of other products in its other general merchandise product category. Its major markets are Europe and North America. The Company’s product offerings include apparel and other general merchandise. Its apparel category includes customized, special occasion apparel and fast fashion. Its other general merchandise category includes small accessories and gadgets, home and garden, electronics and communication devices and other products. The Company has additional Websites for specific products and geographic regions, including www.ouku.com for products targeting its Chinese customer base.