Head-To-Head Analysis: ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) vs. Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for ePlus and Littelfuse, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ePlus	0	2	0	0	2.00
Littelfuse	0	2	4	0	2.67

Littelfuse has a consensus price target of $465.83, indicating a potential upside of 7.76%. Given Littelfuse’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Littelfuse is more favorable than ePlus.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.8% of ePlus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Littelfuse shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of ePlus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Littelfuse shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ePlus and Littelfuse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ePlus	$2.44 billion	0.98	$132.64 million	$4.57	20.09
Littelfuse	$2.39 billion	4.60	-$71.70 million	($0.50)	-864.60

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

Dividends

ePlus pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Littelfuse pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. ePlus pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Littelfuse pays out -640.0% 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 raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

ePlus has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Littelfuse has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ePlus	4.91%	11.51%	6.73%
Littelfuse	-0.31%	13.02%	8.32%

Summary

Littelfuse beats ePlus on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ePlus

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services. The Financing segment engages in financing arrangements, such as sales-type and operating leases; loans and consumption-based financing arrangements; and underwriting, management, and disposal of IT equipment and assets. Its financing operations comprise sales, pricing, credit, contracts, accounting, and risk and asset management. This segment primarily finances IT, communication-related, and medical equipment; and industrial machinery and equipment, office furniture and general office equipment, transportation equipment, and other general business equipment directly, as well as through vendors. The company serves commercial entities, state and local governments, government contractors, healthcare, and educational institutions. The company was formerly known as MLC Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to ePlus inc. in 1999. ePlus inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

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.