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what it is
Live Ventures buys and runs retail, flooring, steel, and collectibles businesses.
how it gets paid
Last year Live Ventures made $445M in revenue. Flooring Manufacturing was the main engine at $170M, or 38% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 5.9% last year. Revenue fell 3% from last year, but gross margin held at 32.6%.
what just happened
Live Ventures posted $109M of quarterly revenue and a -$0.02 EPS.
At a glance
C balance sheet — red flag territory — real financial stress
5/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
1.9x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
11.6% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$4.93 fy2025 eps est
xvary composite: 35/100 — weak
What they do
Live Ventures buys and runs retail, flooring, steel, and collectibles businesses.
You are buying five businesses, not one, and that matters at a $445M revenue base. The flooring arm makes and sells product, and 32.6% gross margin (what is left after direct costs) says the company keeps about $0.33 of each sales dollar before overhead. That is a small-company trick: one weak store hurts less when you own retail, manufacturing, and steel.
How they make money
$445M
annual revenue · their business grew -5.9% last year
Flooring Manufacturing
$170M
6.0%
Retail-Flooring
$115M
4.5%
Steel Manufacturing
$90M
2.0%
Retail-Entertainment
$55M
8.0%
Corporate and Other
$15M
0.0%
The products that matter
manufactures flooring products
Marquis Industries
about $300M · about two-thirds of shown segment revenue
this is the largest business shown in the snapshot. vertical integration from yarn extrusion to finished flooring helps on cost, but you are still in a commodity-heavy category where margins do not forgive mistakes.
largest segment shown
runs retail and entertainment assets
Retail-entertainment segment
about $145M · 33% of the company’s $445M shown sales mix
this segment is smaller than flooring but still meaningful. At about one-third of shown sales, it gives you diversification on paper and more operating complexity in practice.
one-third of shown sales
Key numbers
$445M
annual revenue
That is the whole business size. A small change in sales moves the equity fast.
1.9x
trailing p/e
The market pays $1.90 for $1 of earnings. That is cheap for a business still making money.
84%
debt share
Debt is 84% of capital. That is why the stock behaves like a leverage trade.
32.6%
gross margin
The company keeps about $0.33 of each sales dollar before overhead.
Financial health
C
strength
- balance sheet grade C — very weak — significant financial distress
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $180M (84% of capital)
C — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for LIVE right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Live Ventures posted $109M of quarterly revenue and a -$0.02 EPS.
Revenue fell 3% from last year, but gross margin held at 32.6%. That says the company still converts sales into profit, yet the top line is drifting.
$109M
revenue
$0.02
eps
32.6%
gross margin
gross margin
32.6% gross margin matters most because it means the business keeps about $0.33 of each sales dollar before overhead.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
your #1 risk is debt-heavy financing on a tiny equity base. $180M of long-term debt against a $34M market cap means even a better quarter does not buy much room for error.
high
balance sheet pressure
Debt equals 84% of capital. That is the risk. A holding company with uneven earnings does not have much slack when lenders sit ahead of an equity worth about $34M.
$180M of long-term debt is more than five times the market cap.
med
revenue is still moving the wrong way
Q1 revenue fell to $108.5M, down 2.7% from a year ago. Margin gains helped, but cost improvement without sales stability is a fragile fix.
If revenue keeps slipping from the $108.5M base, the operating-income jump loses its shine fast.
med
the structure is hard to underwrite
You own unrelated businesses, not one focused operator. The segment data in this snapshot is thin, and the feed itself does not reconcile cleanly between $2B of revenue and about $445M of shown segment sales.
When the business mix is messy, a 1.9x p/e can be a warning label instead of a bargain sticker.
This risk picture is simple: a company with a $34M equity value and $180M in long-term debt needs more than one quarter of $3.5M operating income to earn investor trust.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
revenue stabilization above the $108.5M quarterly base
The stock does not need explosive growth. It needs proof that sales stop shrinking while margin holds. If the top line keeps sliding, the quarter-one improvement will read like cost cutting, not recovery.
calendar
q2 2026 earnings
The next report should tell you whether $3.5M of operating income was a one-off bounce or the start of a better run rate. In human-speak: this is the prove-it quarter.
trend
gross margin after the move to 32.6%
Gross margin is the cleanest sign that operating discipline is improving. If that number slips back while revenue is still down, the quarter-one story weakens fast.
risk
debt paydown, not just better language from management
Talk about AI, robotics, and new operators at the flooring unit is fine. What you need next is visible progress against the $180M debt balance. Debt reduction is the scoreboard.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
5 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not see a stable earnings pattern here — expect swings, revisions, and a lot less certainty than the low p/e implies.
xvary composite
35 / 100
that score rolls growth, value, risk, and momentum together. The stock looks optically cheap, but the risk stack drags the total down.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for LIVE is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$13
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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