Lotus Technology (NASDAQ:LOT) & The Shyft Group (NASDAQ:SHYF) Critical Survey

Lotus Technology (NASDAQ:LOT) and The Shyft Group (NASDAQ:SHYF) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Lotus Technology and The Shyft Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lotus Technology	0	0	0	0	0.00
The Shyft Group	0	0	2	0	3.00

The Shyft Group has a consensus price target of $15.50, indicating a potential upside of 60.79%. Given The Shyft Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe The Shyft Group is more favorable than Lotus Technology.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.4% of Lotus Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.8% of The Shyft Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Lotus Technology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of The Shyft Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Lotus Technology has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Shyft Group has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lotus Technology and The Shyft Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lotus Technology	$924.35 million	1.50	-$742.00 million	($1.73)	-1.18
The Shyft Group	$792.89 million	0.43	$6.50 million	$0.01	964.00

The Shyft Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Lotus Technology. Lotus Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Shyft Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Lotus Technology and The Shyft Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lotus Technology	-87.61%	N/A	-38.53%
The Shyft Group	-0.36%	2.75%	1.31%

Summary

The Shyft Group beats Lotus Technology on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lotus Technology

Lotus Technology Inc. engages in the design, development, and sale of battery electric lifestyle vehicles worldwide. It also distributes sports cars. The company sells its products under the Lotus brand. Lotus Technology Inc. is based in Shanghai, China.

About The Shyft Group

The Shyft Group, Inc. engages in the manufacture and assembly of specialty vehicles for the commercial and recreational vehicle industries in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Fleet Vehicles and Services, and Specialty Vehicles. The Fleet Vehicles and Services segment offers commercial vehicles used in the e-commerce/last mile/parcel delivery, beverage and grocery delivery, laundry and linen, mobile retail, and trades and construction industries. This segment markets its commercial vehicles, including walk-in vans, cutaway vans, and truck bodies under the Aeromaster, Velocity, Trademaster, and Utilivan brands; and vocation-specific equipment upfit services under the Utilimaster Upfit Services and Strobes-R-Us brands. It also installs specialty interior and exterior up-fit equipment for walk-in vans, truck bodies, cargo vans, and light duty pick-up trucks; and provides aftermarket support, including parts sales and field services, as well as parts and accessories. The Specialty Vehicles segment provides diesel motor home chassis; and truck bodies under the Royal Truck Body and DuraMag brands. The segment also provides final assembly services for Isuzu N-gas and F-series chassis under the Builtmore Contract Manufacturing brand; and designs and installs custom lighting and upfit solutions for a range of specialty industries. In addition, this segment provides truck accessories under the Magnum brand; and a range of parts and accessories, and maintenance and repair services for its motorhome and specialty chassis. It sells its products to commercial users, original equipment manufacturers, dealers, individuals, municipalities, and other government entities. The company was formerly known as Spartan Motors, Inc. and changed its name to The Shyft Group, Inc. in June 2020. The Shyft Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1975 and is headquartered in Novi, Michigan.