Critical Review: LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) and CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA)

LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) and CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for LiveOne and CAVA Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LiveOne	0	0	2	0	3.00
CAVA Group	0	8	8	0	2.50

LiveOne currently has a consensus price target of $2.75, suggesting a potential upside of 341.13%. CAVA Group has a consensus price target of $116.93, suggesting a potential downside of 14.21%. Given LiveOne’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe LiveOne is more favorable than CAVA Group.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LiveOne	-10.20%	N/A	-19.33%
CAVA Group	5.04%	7.37%	4.25%

Risk and Volatility

LiveOne has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CAVA Group has a beta of 3.33, indicating that its share price is 233% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

21.3% of LiveOne shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.2% of CAVA Group shares are held by institutional investors. 24.1% of LiveOne shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.1% of CAVA Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LiveOne and CAVA Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LiveOne	$123.75 million	0.50	-$11.97 million	($0.16)	-3.90
CAVA Group	$845.22 million	18.39	$13.28 million	$0.41	332.41

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

Summary

CAVA Group beats LiveOne on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About CAVA Group

CAVA Group, Inc. owns and operates a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand in the United States. The company also offers dips, spreads, and dressings through grocery stores. In addition, the company provides online and mobile ordering platforms. Cava Group, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.