Lifetime Brands, Inc. (LCUT)

This stock was picked by TMFChill for the 2008 Stockpicking Contest.

Buy on low p/e:

Lifetime Brands, Inc. (Lifetime) is a designer, developer and marketer of a range of branded consumer products used in the home. The Company sells and markets its products under various brands, which are either owned or licensed, in the United States housewares industry. Its principle brands include KitchenAid, Farberware and Sabatier. The Company’s three main product categories are Food Preparation, Tabletop and Home Decor. In addition to these, the Company sells products in the Bath Hardware and Accessories product category. The Company operates in two segments: wholesale, which comprises the marketing and distributing of products to retailers and distributors, and direct-to-consumer, which comprises the direct sale to the consumer through the retail outlet stores, the Internet and mail-order catalogs. In April 2006, Lifetime acquired Syratech Corporation. In July 2007, Lifetime acquired the Gorham, Kirk Stieff, Whiting and Durgin sterling silver businesses from Lenox Group Inc

Not surprising that a consumer products company will disappoint as the economy lags. With share price down more than 50% this represents good value. As the economy rebounds, consumer confidence will grow and LCUT will benefit.

As a buy and holder there's a great deal here to like.
PEG - 0.53.
Inside Ownership - 16%
Great Brand Names.
Good dividend.

I think any price under $14/share is a good deal for LCUT.

Testing out a portfolio of smallish-cap 5-star stocks found using the CAPS screener. All picks have at least 50 allstars backing them, which should be enough to minimize star rating fluctuations. It's only been about a week, and I expect a LOT of volatility, but I have high hopes for market beating performance. Time will tell...

Lifetime Brands has a boring but effective business model over the longterm the look to be an outperform in my book. They have dibs on some very well recognized brands, and this looks like a good consumer staples play in this turbulent market. I've had this one on my list for a while, and with a 50% decline in share price over the last 10 months or so, and no significant deterioration in fundamentals to speak of.... this looks like an oversell to me. Based on my valuation work, these shares should be bringing about $21 a share over the next 2 to 3 years.

Go Long,

Fool On!!!

Lifetime Brands is designer, developer, marketer of much of the stuff in your kitchen. Personally I'm a huge fan of the Kitchenaid products, I have had an appliance set, blender, and a few utensils, and they fit well, worked well, and didn't break. It's almost 2/3 off it's all time high, more than a fair correction for a housing and recessionary down turn. An opportunity to pick up a growing housewares company at just under 2 times book value and 12 times earnings is a good deal and market beating opportunity.

Excellent products. Though every time I think the price has bottomed out, it drops some more! At this price even if 2008 sales are down 20%, it would still be trading at under a third of its total revenue. And now PEG is under 0.7. With some good growth potential 2-3 years down the road I had to buy this stock today!

Best quality items on the market.

lots of debt, negative free cash flow. forward earnings looks good but i don't see how theyll be able to do it. I like the brands, not much else.

Currently trading at 41% intrinsic value.

45% held by insiders. peg looks good. nice products sold at mainstream distribution points. good balance sheet, cash, pe looks nice.

Expectations are good with LCUT (PEG; P/E ratios ahead industry, small cap and so on; decent management, always putting company goals ahead of their own; good brand operation, aiming particular brands at particular consumer segments).

I was wearing a cK T-shirt last Saturday night, btw :)

Nonetheless, I don't expect long-term returns just because LCUT has sort of classic approach, not too much innovations in products, and I'm afraid progress might beat the company even if the latter beats the market. It is worth picking the stock just to see how they are to cope with scientific progress and incorporate it into production; and to hold the stock even longer if they do.

I would agree that the current financial statements of Lifetime Brands are screwy due to recent aquisitions. Of course, aquisitions don't always work out, often because a lot of debt is aquired along with the company. That is one area I'd like to see some improvement, and soon. Great product mix, though, and historically solid growth.

This ones a sleeper - Reported 10 cent loss/share. The acquisition of Syratech hurt here. Company reiterates 2007 earnings at $1.40 to $1.70/share. PEG of 0.84

I wouldn't expect to see a double in a year - just solid lower double digit growth for the next 3-5 years

I think the current financials look pretty screwy due to their latest acquisition, which severly increased inventories, made their financials harder to read from a historical basis (the newly acquired company makes all its money in Q4). However, once they get the new acquisition back onto the typical 11% organic growth that the company has experienced, and leaned up inventories, this one could start to get into investor's favors once again.

Great financials, a solid business whose stock was oversold.

Low price-to-sales value.

Five Star Caps Stock down 20%