AOS vs LCUT Stock Comparison

Smith A O and Lifetime Brands Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
AOS Smith A O Corp
$61.92 +5.6% 1M -10.1% 1Y
Market cap
$8.51B
P/E
17.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.80B
Div. yield
0.02%
HVAC Industrials
8 wins
LCUT Lifetime Brands, Inc
$8.28 -11.5% 1M +145.0% 1Y
Market cap
$184.96M
P/E
5.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$661.06M
Div. yield
–
Home Appliances Consumer Discretionary
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Smith A O leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Smith A O 8, Lifetime Brands 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAOSLCUTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $8.51B $184.96M AOS
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.0x 5.8x LCUT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.2x 4.2x LCUT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +0.4% -1.5% AOS
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 13.1% 4.8% AOS
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 20.9% 13.6% AOS
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 1.8x AOS
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -10.1% +145.0% LCUT
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -0.7%/yr -13.3%/yr AOS
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 27.4% 81.6% AOS
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 66/100 66/100 AOS

Percentile Scorecard

AOSLCUT

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAOSLCUT
Valuation 67 #19 of 56 98 #2 of 42
Growth 39 #32 of 52 76 #11 of 42
Profitability 100 #1 of 51 77 #10 of 40
Financial Health 75 #15 of 58 45 #24 of 43
Shareholder Returns 48 #22 of 41 33 #19 of 28
Overall 66 66
  • AOS ranked among 60 companies in Construction Products
  • LCUT ranked among 45 companies in Household Durables

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAOSLCUTSPY
1 month +5.6%-11.5% -0.8%
3 months -0.9%-6.2% +3.5%
6 months -4.3%+17.4% +7.0%
Year to date -7.4%+109.6% +12.2%
1 year -10.1%+145.0% +13.0%
3 years -8.7%+56.5% +86.3%
3 years, per year -3.0%+16.1% +23.1%
5 years -3.6%-51.0% +68.6%
5 years, per year -0.7%-13.3% +11.0%
10 years +36.4%-40.9% +258.0%
10 years, per year +3.2%-5.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureAOSLCUTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 27.4%81.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 26.5%74.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.710.92 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.371.78 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -43.4%-84.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -23.1%-16.4% -1.8%
52-week high $80.47$9.90 $779.14
52-week low $55.34$2.98 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAOSLCUT
P/E now vs peer median 17.0xmedian 19.4x 5.7xmedian 16.1x
P/S now vs peer median 2.2xmedian 1.5x 0.3xmedian 0.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 11.7xmedian 12.1x 4.2xmedian 12.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 13.2xmedian 16.1x 9.2xmedian 11.9x
P/B now vs peer median 4.6xmedian 2.9x 0.9xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.65median 0.93 0.11median 0.64

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAOSLCUT
Revenue $3.80B $661.06M
Gross profit $1.47B $286.63M
Operating income $668.70M $56.07M
Net income $500.30M $31.80M
Free cash flow $639.40M $20.78M
EPS (diluted) $3.63 $1.41
Cash & equivalents $181.30M $5.45M
Total debt $637.50M $148.24M
Shares (diluted) 137.86M 22.61M
Enterprise value $7.76B $149.25M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAOSLCUT
P/E 17.0x 5.7x
P/FCF 13.2x 9.2x
P/Operating cash flow 12.2x 6.9x
P/S 2.2x 0.3x
P/B 4.6x 0.9x
P/Tangible book 6.7x 0.9x
EV/EBITDA 11.7x 4.2x
EV/EBIT 13.3x 5.9x
EV/Revenue 2.3x 0.5x
EV/FCF 13.9x 16.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 12.8x 12.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.65 0.11

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAOSLCUT
Revenue growth (1Y) 0.4% -1.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.6% -1.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 1.4% 14.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 1.3% 4.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) -5.2% 566.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -2.5% 34.7%
Net income growth (1Y) -3.5% 191.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 22.3% 55.0%
EPS growth (1Y) -0.3% 188.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 26.2% 53.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 16.1% 16.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 5.0% -23.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 29.3% 4.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 6.2% -29.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAOSLCUT
Gross margin 38.6% 43.4%
EBITDA margin 20.0% 12.1%
Operating margin 17.6% 8.5%
Pretax margin 17.0% 5.7%
Net margin 13.1% 4.8%
FCF margin 16.8% 3.1%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 4.2%
Return on equity 26.9% 15.3%
Return on assets 13.7% 5.5%
Return on invested capital 20.9% 13.6%
Return on capital employed 24.1% 14.2%
Asset turnover 1.0x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 0.9x
Stock comp / revenue 0.4% 0.5%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAOSLCUT
Debt / assets 17.5% 24.0%
Debt / equity 0.3x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 1.8x
Debt / FCF 1.0x 7.1x
Liabilities / assets 49.5% 64.8%
Equity / assets 50.5% 35.2%
Interest coverage 31.5x 3.0x
Current ratio 1.6x 2.1x
Quick ratio 1.0x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.0x
Altman Z-score 6.19 1.92

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAOSLCUT
Dividend yield 2.3% 2.0%
Net buyback yield 3.7% –
Shareholder yield 6.0% 2.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) 39.6% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 31.0% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 2.2% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 3.2% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAOSLCUT
Forward P/E 17.2xFY2026 4.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.60FY2026 $1.96FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -6.5%FY2026 +142.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +15.0% -46.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.73BFY2026 $703.72MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -2.6%FY2026 +8.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.9% +4.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAOSLCUT
Held by institutions 91.9% 43.3%
Institutions holding 614 88
Change in shares held, QoQ +7.1% +9.6%
Institutions buying 315 65
Institutions selling 226 15
Buyers to sellers 1.39 4.33

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AOSLCUT
AOS 1.00 0.00
LCUT 0.00 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AOS and LCUT?

Smith A O (AOS) is the largest by market capitalisation: Smith A O (AOS) $8.51B, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) $184.96M.

Which stock is cheaper, AOS and LCUT?

Lifetime Brands (LCUT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Smith A O (AOS) 17.0x, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 5.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) is cheapest (Smith A O (AOS) 17.2x, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 4.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Smith A O (AOS) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Smith A O (AOS) +0.4%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) -1.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Smith A O (AOS) has the highest net margin (Smith A O (AOS) 13.1%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 4.8%). On return on invested capital, Smith A O (AOS) leads (Smith A O (AOS) 20.9%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 13.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Lifetime Brands (LCUT) returned the most: Smith A O (AOS) -10.1%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) +145.0%. Over five years, Smith A O (AOS) compounded fastest (Smith A O (AOS) -0.7%/yr, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) -13.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Smith A O (AOS) 0.02%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 0.00%. Lifetime Brands (LCUT) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Smith A O (AOS) has been the steadiest (Smith A O (AOS) 27.4%, Lifetime Brands (LCUT) 81.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do AOS and LCUT move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.00, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, AOS and LCUT?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Smith A O (AOS) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.