Critical Comparison: Eastern (EML) & Its Peers

Volatility and Risk

Eastern has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern’s peers have a beta of 8.85, meaning that their average share price is 785% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Eastern pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Eastern pays out -33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “PROTECTION – SFTY” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.7% and pay out 44.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Eastern is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.0% of Eastern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.0% of shares of all “PROTECTION – SFTY” companies are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Eastern shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.6% of shares of all “PROTECTION – SFTY” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern	-3.01%	10.22%	5.25%
Eastern Competitors	-27.92%	-107.74%	-10.15%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern	$272.75 million	-$8.53 million	-17.56
Eastern Competitors	$1.23 billion	$110.42 million	43.82

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

Summary

Eastern beats its peers on 6 of the 11 factors compared.

Eastern Company Profile

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries. It also provides rotary latches, compression latches, draw latches, hinges, camlocks, key switches, padlocks, and handles; and development and program management services for custom electromechanical and mechanical systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and customer applications. In addition, the company designs and manufactures proprietary vision technology for OEMs and aftermarket applications, as well as offers aftermarket components to the heavy- and medium-duty truck, motorhome, and bus markets. The Eastern Company was founded in 1858 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut.