SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS) and Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ:GDEN) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares SeaWorld Entertainment and Golden Entertainment's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| SeaWorld Entertainment | -50.54% | -352.53% | -10.24% |
| Golden Entertainment | -17.22% | -43.76% | -5.79% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for SeaWorld Entertainment and Golden Entertainment, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| SeaWorld Entertainment | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2.56 |
| Golden Entertainment | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.00 |
SeaWorld Entertainment currently has a consensus target price of $45.5833, indicating a potential downside of 12.88%. Golden Entertainment has a consensus target price of $41.50, indicating a potential upside of 1.42%. Given Golden Entertainment's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Golden Entertainment is more favorable than SeaWorld Entertainment.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares SeaWorld Entertainment and Golden Entertainment's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| SeaWorld Entertainment | $1.40 billion | 2.96 | $89.48 million | $1.58 | 33.11 |
| Golden Entertainment | $973.41 million | 1.20 | $-39,540,000.00 | ($0.87) | -47.03 |
SeaWorld Entertainment has higher revenue and earnings than Golden Entertainment. Golden Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SeaWorld Entertainment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
97.8% of SeaWorld Entertainment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.8% of Golden Entertainment shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of SeaWorld Entertainment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.4% of Golden Entertainment shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Volatility & Risk
SeaWorld Entertainment has a beta of 2.37, indicating that its stock price is 137% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Golden Entertainment has a beta of 2.66, indicating that its stock price is 166% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Golden Entertainment beats SeaWorld Entertainment on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
