Reviewing Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT.A) and Kirkland’s (NASDAQ:KIRK)

Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT.A) and Kirkland’s (NASDAQ:KIRK) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Haverty Furniture Companies has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirkland’s has a beta of 2.48, meaning that its share price is 148% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Haverty Furniture Companies and Kirkland’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Haverty Furniture Companies	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kirkland’s	-6.06%	N/A	-8.47%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Haverty Furniture Companies and Kirkland’s, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Haverty Furniture Companies	0	0	0	0	0.00
Kirkland’s	0	0	1	1	3.50

Kirkland’s has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 320.56%. Given Kirkland’s’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kirkland’s is more favorable than Haverty Furniture Companies.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.8% of Haverty Furniture Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.4% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Haverty Furniture Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Haverty Furniture Companies and Kirkland’s”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Haverty Furniture Companies	$722.90 million	0.44	$20.35 million	$1.26	15.75
Kirkland’s	$431.11 million	0.06	-$23.13 million	($1.73)	-0.62

Haverty Furniture Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Kirkland’s. Kirkland’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Haverty Furniture Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Haverty Furniture Companies beats Kirkland’s on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Haverty Furniture Companies

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of residential furniture and accessories in the United States. The company offers furniture merchandise under the Havertys brand name. It also provides custom upholstery products and eclectic looks; and mattress product lines under the Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, and Serta names, as well as private label Skye name. The company sells home furnishings through its retail stores, as well as through its Website. As of February 23, 2021, it operated 120 showrooms in 16 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions. Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. was founded in 1885 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Kirkland’s

Kirkland’s, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home décor and furnishings in the United States. Its stores provide various merchandise, including holiday décor, furniture, textiles, ornamental wall décor, decorative accessories, art, mirrors, home fragrance, lighting, floral, housewares, outdoor, and gifts. The company operates its stores under the Kirkland’s, Kirkland’s Home, Kirkland’s Home Outlet, Kirkland’s Outlet, and Kirkland Collection names. It also operates an e-commerce website, kirklands.com. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.