Head-To-Head Contrast: Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) vs. Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT)

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) and Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

40.6% of Lifetime Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.1% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by institutional investors. 44.4% of Lifetime Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Lifetime Brands and Central Garden & Pet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifetime Brands	1	1	1	1	2.50
Central Garden & Pet	0	2	1	1	2.75

Lifetime Brands currently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential downside of 25.10%. Central Garden & Pet has a consensus target price of $54.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.43%. Given Central Garden & Pet’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Central Garden & Pet is more favorable than Lifetime Brands.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Central Garden & Pet”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lifetime Brands	$647.93 million	0.33	-$26.94 million	($1.27)	-7.36
Central Garden & Pet	$3.13 billion	0.79	$162.84 million	$2.75	14.39

Central Garden & Pet has higher revenue and earnings than Lifetime Brands. Lifetime Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Central Garden & Pet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Central Garden & Pet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifetime Brands	-4.22%	8.01%	2.76%
Central Garden & Pet	5.42%	11.55%	5.04%

Volatility & Risk

Lifetime Brands has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Central Garden & Pet beats Lifetime Brands on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lifetime Brands

Lifetime Brands, Inc. designs, sources, and sells branded kitchenware, tableware, and other products for use in the home in the worldwide. The company provides kitchenware products, including kitchen tools and gadgets, cutlery, kitchen scales, thermometers, cutting boards, shears, cookware, pantryware, spice racks, and bakeware; and tableware products comprising dinnerware, stemware, flatware, and giftware. It also provides home solutions, such as thermal beverageware, bath scales, weather and outdoor household, food storage, neoprene travel, and home décor products. The company owns or licenses various brands, including the Farberware, Mikasa, Taylor, KitchenAid, Pfaltzgraff, BUILT NY, Rabbit, Kamenstein, S’well, and Fred & Friends. It serves mass market merchants, specialty stores, department stores, warehouse clubs, grocery stores, off-price retailers, food service distributors, food and beverage outlets, and e-commerce. The company sells its products directly, as well as through its retail websites. Lifetime Brands, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Garden City, New York.

About Central Garden & Pet

Central Garden & Pet Co. engages in the production and distribution of branded and private label products for the lawn, garden, and pet supplies markets. It operates through the Pet and Garden segments. The Pet segment focuses on dog and cat supplies such as dog treats and chews, toys, pet beds and containment, grooming products, waste management and training pads, supplies for aquatics, small animals, reptiles and pet birds including toys, cages and habitats, bedding, food and supplements, products for equine and livestock, animal and household health and insect control products, live fish, and small animals, as well as outdoor cushions. The Garden segment includes lawn and garden consumables such as grass, vegetable, flower and herb seed, wild bird feed, bird houses and other birding accessories, weed, grass, and other herbicides, insecticide and pesticide products, fertilizers, and live plants. The company was founded by William E. Brown in 1980 and is headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA.