Reviewing Ituran Location and Control (ITRN) & Its Peers

Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) is one of 110 publicly-traded companies in the “Communications Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Ituran Location and Control to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Ituran Location and Control pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Ituran Location and Control pays out 61.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Communications Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.6% and pay out 45.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ituran Location and Control has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Ituran Location and Control and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ituran Location and Control	16.28%	29.03%	16.29%
Ituran Location and Control Competitors	1.19%	-4.83%	3.12%

Risk and Volatility

Ituran Location and Control has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ituran Location and Control’s peers have a beta of 1.17, meaning that their average share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.8% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.4% of shares of all “Communications Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.4% of shares of all “Communications Equipment” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ituran Location and Control and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ituran Location and Control	$359.02 million	$57.97 million	15.41
Ituran Location and Control Competitors	$5.62 billion	$292.54 million	-2.98

Ituran Location and Control’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Ituran Location and Control. Ituran Location and Control is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ituran Location and Control and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ituran Location and Control	0	1	4	0	2.80
Ituran Location and Control Competitors	1073	4025	7091	380	2.54

Ituran Location and Control currently has a consensus price target of $60.67, suggesting a potential upside of 21.50%. As a group, “Communications Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 65.72%. Given Ituran Location and Control’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ituran Location and Control has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Ituran Location and Control beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Ituran Location and Control Company Profile

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. It operates through two segments, Telematics Services and Telematics Products. The Telematics services segment offers stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which enables to locate, track, and recover stolen vehicles for its subscribers; fleet management services that enable corporate and individual customers to track and manage their vehicles in real time; and locator services that allow customers to protect valuable merchandise and equipment. This segment also delivers on-demand navigation guidance, information, and assistance, including the provision of traffic reports and directions, as well as information on the location of gas stations, car repair shops, post offices, hospitals, and other facilities; and Connected Car, a service platform that includes a back-office application, a telematics device installed in the vehicle, mobile apps for IOS and Android users, and interface using the car infotainment screen, as well as usage based insurance and auto financing services. This segment serves insurance companies and agents, car manufacturers, dealers and importers, cooperative sales channels, and private subscribers. The Telematics Products segment offers Base Site, a radio receiver that includes a processor and a data computation unit to collect and send data to and from transponders, and to control centers; Control Center, a center consisting of software used to collect data from various base sites, conduct location calculations, and transmit location data to various customers and law enforcement agencies; navigation and tracking devices installed in vehicles; and SMART, a portable transmitter installed in vehicles that sends a signal to the base site enabling the location of vehicles, equipment, or an individual. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Azor, Israel.