SEA (NYSE:SE) and Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for SEA and Liquidity Services, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| SEA | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2.80 |
| Liquidity Services | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
SEA currently has a consensus price target of $204.9167, suggesting a potential downside of 18.34%. Liquidity Services has a consensus price target of $16.50, suggesting a potential downside of 12.56%. Given Liquidity Services' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Liquidity Services is more favorable than SEA.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares SEA and Liquidity Services' gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| SEA | $2.18 billion | 37.72 | $-1,462,800,000.00 | ($2.27) | -110.54 |
| Liquidity Services | $205.94 million | 3.20 | $-3,770,000.00 | $0.12 | 157.25 |
Liquidity Services has lower revenue, but higher earnings than SEA. SEA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Liquidity Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares SEA and Liquidity Services' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| SEA | -38.59% | -144.79% | -22.93% |
| Liquidity Services | -1.83% | 2.17% | 1.27% |
Volatility & Risk
SEA has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liquidity Services has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
74.4% of SEA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of Liquidity Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of SEA shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of Liquidity Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Liquidity Services beats SEA on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
