Reviewing Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) and Interparfums (NASDAQ:IPAR)

Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ:LCUT) and Interparfums (NASDAQ:IPAR) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Dividends

Lifetime Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Interparfums pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Lifetime Brands pays out -13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Interparfums pays out 60.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Interparfums has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Interparfums is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.6% of Lifetime Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.6% of Interparfums shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.4% of Lifetime Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 43.7% of Interparfums shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Interparfums”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)	-7.35
Interparfums	$1.49 billion	1.90	$168.39 million	$5.27	16.76

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Lifetime Brands and Interparfums, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifetime Brands	1	1	1	1	2.50
Interparfums	0	3	4	1	2.75

Lifetime Brands currently has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential downside of 24.97%. Interparfums has a consensus price target of $106.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.03%. Given Interparfums’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Interparfums is more favorable than Lifetime Brands.

Profitability

This table compares Lifetime Brands and Interparfums’ 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%
Interparfums	11.32%	15.47%	10.82%

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, Interparfums has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Interparfums beats Lifetime Brands on 15 of the 17 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 Interparfums

Inter Parfums, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of fragrances and fragrance related products in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, European Based Operations and United States Based Operations. The company offers its fragrance and cosmetic products under the Boucheron, Coach, Jimmy Choo, Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Spade, Lanvin, Moncler, Montblanc, Rochas, S.T. Dupont, Van Cleef & Arpels, Abercrombie & Fitch, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, DKNY, Emanual Ungaro, Ferragamo, Graff, GUESS, Hollister, MCM, Oscar de la Renta, Ungaro, and Roberto Cavalli brands, as well as French Connection, Intimate, and Dunhill, Lacoste names. It sells its products to department stores, perfumeries, specialty stores, duty free shops, and domestic and international wholesalers, and distributors, as well as through e-commerce. The company was formerly known as Jean Philippe Fragrances, Inc. and changed its name to Inter Parfums, Inc. in July 1999. Inter Parfums, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in New York, New York.