Yum China (YUMC) Competitors

Yum China (NYSE:YUMC) and Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) are both large-cap restaurants, hotels, motels companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.

Do analysts recommend YUMC or HLT?

Yum China presently has a consensus target price of $48.70, suggesting a potential upside of 6.42%. Hilton Worldwide has a consensus target price of $249.06, suggesting a potential downside of 8.84%. Given Yum China's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Yum China is more favorable than Hilton Worldwide.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Yum China	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50
Hilton Worldwide	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, YUMC or HLT?

Hilton Worldwide has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Yum China. Yum China is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hilton Worldwide, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Yum China	$11.30B	1.50	$911M	$2.39	19.15
Hilton Worldwide	$11.17B	5.81	$1.54B	$6.34	43.09

Which has more volatility & risk, YUMC or HLT?

Yum China has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilton Worldwide has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is YUMC or HLT more profitable?

Hilton Worldwide has a net margin of 13.90% compared to Yum China's net margin of 8.09%. Yum China's return on equity of 14.08% beat Hilton Worldwide's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Yum China	8.09%	14.08%	8.05%
Hilton Worldwide	13.90%	-49.50%	11.13%

Does the media prefer YUMC or HLT?

In the previous week, Hilton Worldwide had 13 more articles in the media than Yum China. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Hilton Worldwide and 11 mentions for Yum China. Yum China's average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Hilton Worldwide's score of 1.36 indicating that Yum China is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Yum China	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Hilton Worldwide	17 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of YUMC or HLT?

85.6% of Yum China shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Hilton Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Yum China shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Hilton Worldwide shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is YUMC or HLT a better dividend stock?

Yum China pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hilton Worldwide pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Yum China pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilton Worldwide pays out 9.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Yum China has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Yum China is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Hilton Worldwide beats Yum China on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.