Comparing Virco Manufacturing (VIRC) and The Competition

Virco Manufacturing (NASDAQ:VIRC) is one of 354 public companies in the “Commercial Services & Supplies” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Virco Manufacturing to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.0% of Virco Manufacturing shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.1% of shares of all “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies are held by institutional investors. 16.9% of Virco Manufacturing shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Virco Manufacturing has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virco Manufacturing’s peers have a beta of 2.50, suggesting that their average stock price is 150% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Virco Manufacturing and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virco Manufacturing	1	1	0	0	1.50
Virco Manufacturing Competitors	1910	6252	9041	665	2.47

As a group, “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 10.31%. Given Virco Manufacturing’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Virco Manufacturing has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Virco Manufacturing and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virco Manufacturing	-1.31%	-2.32%	-1.39%
Virco Manufacturing Competitors	-49.89%	-119.07%	-1.27%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Virco Manufacturing and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virco Manufacturing	$199.65 million	$2.57 million	-39.41
Virco Manufacturing Competitors	$2.49 billion	$141.50 million	13.11

Virco Manufacturing’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Virco Manufacturing. Virco Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Virco Manufacturing pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Virco Manufacturing pays out -62.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Commercial Services & Supplies” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out 63.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Virco Manufacturing has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

Virco Manufacturing peers beat Virco Manufacturing on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About Virco Manufacturing

Virco Manufacturing Corporation designs, manufactures and distributes furniture and equipment primarily for the education market. Its product portfolio includes student desks and chairs, classroom tables, activity tables, stools, computer furniture, storage products, and collaborative learning furniture. The company serves K-12 schools, colleges and universities, government institutions, and other organizations through a network of dealers, distributors and direct sales channels. Its products are used in classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, laboratories, administrative areas and other educational or institutional settings.