Critical Analysis: Preformed Line Products (PLPC) versus Its Competitors

Preformed Line Products (NASDAQ:PLPC) is one of 216 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Preformed Line Products to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

Preformed Line Products pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Preformed Line Products pays out 7.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 27.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.2% of Preformed Line Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.4% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 33.0% of Preformed Line Products shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Preformed Line Products and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Preformed Line Products	$669.34 million	$35.28 million	23.93
Preformed Line Products Competitors	$2.49 billion	$149.93 million	21.25

Preformed Line Products’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Preformed Line Products. Preformed Line Products is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Preformed Line Products and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Preformed Line Products	0	1	0	1	3.00
Preformed Line Products Competitors	2291	5173	7226	439	2.38

Preformed Line Products presently has a consensus target price of $275.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.49%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 48.87%. Given Preformed Line Products’ peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Preformed Line Products has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Preformed Line Products and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Preformed Line Products	7.58%	11.96%	8.49%
Preformed Line Products Competitors	-380.97%	-43.71%	-7.31%

Risk & Volatility

Preformed Line Products has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Preformed Line Products’ peers have a beta of -20.43, suggesting that their average share price is 2,143% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Preformed Line Products beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Preformed Line Products

Preformed Line Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products and systems that are used in the construction and maintenance of overhead, ground-mounted, and underground networks for the energy, telecommunication, cable, data communication, and other industries. The company offers optical ground wire products to support, protect, terminate, and splice transmission and distribution lines, as well as bolted, welded, and compressed connectors for substations; and string hardware products, polymer insulators, wildlife protection, substation fittings, and motion control devices. It also provides rugged outside plant closures to protect and support wireline and wireless networks, such as copper cable or fiber optic cable from moisture, environmental hazards, and other contaminants; and hardware assemblies, pole line hardware, plastic products, cable dynamics/vibration solutions, interior/exterior connectors, tools, and urethane solutions that are used by energy, renewable energy, communications, cable, and special industries for various applications. The company serves public and private energy utilities and communication companies, cable operators, governmental agencies, contractors and subcontractors, distributors, and value-added resellers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It markets its products through a direct sales force, as well as through manufacturing representatives. Preformed Line Products Company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio.