Head-To-Head Contrast: Nidec (OTCMKTS:NJDCY) versus Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Nidec (OTCMKTS:NJDCY) and Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Nidec and Littelfuse, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nidec	0	1	0	0	2.00
Littelfuse	0	3	1	1	2.60

Littelfuse has a consensus target price of $234.50, indicating a potential downside of 9.10%. Given Littelfuse’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than Nidec.

Volatility and Risk

Nidec has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Littelfuse has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nidec and Littelfuse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nidec	6.06%	9.18%	4.79%
Littelfuse	5.30%	9.74%	6.15%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nidec and Littelfuse”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nidec	$17.12 billion	2.42	$1.11 billion	$0.23	18.91
Littelfuse	$2.19 billion	2.92	$100.19 million	$4.80	53.75

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

Dividends

Nidec pays an annual dividend of $0.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Littelfuse pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nidec pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Littelfuse pays out 62.5% 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. Littelfuse has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Littelfuse is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.2% of Nidec shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Littelfuse shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Littelfuse shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Littelfuse beats Nidec on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nidec

Nidec Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells motors, electronics and optical components, and other related products in Japan and internationally. The company offers medium- and large-size motors, small-size and precision motors, motor-related products, units and modules, automotive components, mechanical equipment/machine tools, inspection and measuring equipment, electronic devices, sensors, and other products, as well as mold, molding, cutting, and machining components. Its products are used for applications in robotics, IoT products, automotive components, home appliances, logistics/agriculture, information technology, office automation, mobile optical components, medical and health care products, housing equipment, commercial and professional products, industrial machinery, and processing/inspection equipment. The company was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan..

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors. This segment serves industrial motor drives and power conversion, automotive electronics, electric vehicle and related charging infrastructure, aerospace, power supplies, data centers, telecommunications, medical devices, alternative energy, building and home automation, appliances, and mobile electronics markets. The Transportation segment provides blade, resettable, and high-current and high-voltage fuses, as well as battery cable protectors; fuses, switches, relays, circuit breakers, and power distribution modules; and sensor products. This segment serves heavy-duty truck, construction, agriculture, material handling, and marine. The Industrial segment offers industrial fuses, protection relays, contactors, transformers, residual current devices, ground fault circuit interrupters, residual current monitors, arc fault detection devices, and temperature sensors for use in renewable energy and energy storage systems, electric vehicle infrastructure, HVAC systems, industrial safety, non-residential construction, MRO, mining, and factory automation. It sells its products through distributors, direct sales force, and manufacturers' representatives. Littelfuse, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.