Critical Comparison: LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) & GEN Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:GENK)

GEN Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:GENK) and LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares GEN Restaurant Group and LiveOne”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GEN Restaurant Group	$198.83 million	1.24	$8.41 million	$0.17	44.29
LiveOne	$127.82 million	0.91	-$11.97 million	($0.10)	-12.20

GEN Restaurant Group has higher revenue and earnings than LiveOne. LiveOne is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GEN Restaurant Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

GEN Restaurant Group has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its share price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiveOne has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for GEN Restaurant Group and LiveOne, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GEN Restaurant Group	0	0	3	0	3.00
LiveOne	0	0	2	0	3.00

GEN Restaurant Group currently has a consensus target price of $13.17, indicating a potential upside of 74.86%. LiveOne has a consensus target price of $2.75, indicating a potential upside of 125.41%. Given LiveOne’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LiveOne is more favorable than GEN Restaurant Group.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.2% of GEN Restaurant Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.3% of LiveOne shares are held by institutional investors. 61.1% of GEN Restaurant Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.9% of LiveOne shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares GEN Restaurant Group and LiveOne’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GEN Restaurant Group	0.39%	1.83%	0.37%
LiveOne	-5.40%	N/A	-10.47%

Summary

GEN Restaurant Group beats LiveOne on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GEN Restaurant Group

GEN Restaurant Group, Inc. operates restaurants in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, New York, and Florida. It offers meats, poultry, and seafood. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Cerritos, California.

About LiveOne

LiveOne, Inc., a digital media company, engages in the acquisition, distribution, and monetization of live music, Internet radio, podcasting/vodcasting, and music-related streaming and video content. It operates LiveXLive, a live music streaming platform; PodcastOne, a podcasting platform; and Slacker, an integrated membership and advertising streaming music service, as well as produces original music-related content. The company also produces, edits, curates, and streams live music events through broadband transmission over the Internet and satellite networks to its users; provides digital Internet radio and music services to users online and through automotive and mobile original equipment manufacturers on a white label basis; and offers ancillary products and services, such as regulatory and post-implementation support services. In addition, it develops, manufactures, and distributes personalized merchandise and gifts through wholesale and direct-to-consumer distribution channels. Further, the company offers LiveOne App, an application that provides access to live events, audio streams, original episodic content, podcasts, vodcasts, video on demand, real-time livestreams, and social sharing of content. The company was formerly known as LiveXLive Media, Inc. and changed its name to LiveOne, Inc. in October 2021. LiveOne, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.