Head to Head Survey: Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) and Flexsteel Industries (NASDAQ:FLXS)

Flexsteel Industries (NASDAQ:FLXS) and Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Flexsteel Industries and Whirlpool, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flexsteel Industries	0	1	1	0	2.50
Whirlpool	3	7	1	0	1.82

Whirlpool has a consensus price target of $46.88, indicating a potential upside of 9.40%. Given Whirlpool’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Whirlpool is more favorable than Flexsteel Industries.

Risk & Volatility

Flexsteel Industries has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Whirlpool has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

36.3% of Flexsteel Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Whirlpool shares are held by institutional investors. 11.2% of Flexsteel Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Whirlpool shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Flexsteel Industries and Whirlpool”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flexsteel Industries	$458.42 million	0.87	$20.15 million	$5.52	13.47
Whirlpool	$15.52 billion	0.18	$318.00 million	$2.92	14.67

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

Profitability

This table compares Flexsteel Industries and Whirlpool’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flexsteel Industries	6.79%	16.10%	9.91%
Whirlpool	1.17%	4.18%	0.82%

Summary

Flexsteel Industries beats Whirlpool on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flexsteel Industries

Flexsteel Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a manufacturer, importer, and markets of upholstered furniture for residential and contract markets in the United States. It provides upholstered furniture, such as sofas, loveseats, chairs, reclining rocking chairs, swivel rockers, sofa beds, convertible bedding units, occasional tables, desks, dining tables and chairs, kitchen storage, bedroom furniture, and outdoor furniture. The company distributes its products through e-commerce channels and dealer sales force. It also engages in export related activities. Flexsteel Industries, Inc. was founded in 1893 and is based in Dubuque, Iowa.

About Whirlpool

Whirlpool Corporation manufactures and markets home appliances and related products and services in the North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The company's principal products include refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, and refrigerator water filters; laundry appliances, and commercial laundry products and related laundry accessories; cooking and other small domestic appliances; and dishwasher appliances and related accessories, as well as mixers. It markets and distributes its products primarily under the Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, JennAir, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Hotpoint, Indesit, InSinkErator, Yummly, Affresh, Gladiator, Swash, everydrop, Ignis, Privileg, Eslabon de Lujo, and Acros brands. The company sells its products to retailers, distributors, dealers, builders, and other manufacturers, as well as directly to consumers. Whirlpool Corporation was founded in 1911 and is headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan.