China Lodging Group, Limited (NASDAQ: HTHT) and Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:VAC) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitabiliy.
Risk and Volatility
China Lodging Group, Limited has a beta of 1.71, suggesting that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for China Lodging Group, Limited and Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| China Lodging Group, Limited | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.71 |
| Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.71 |
China Lodging Group, Limited presently has a consensus target price of $64.67, indicating a potential downside of 35.97%. Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation has a consensus target price of $117.14, indicating a potential upside of 7.10%. Given Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation is more favorable than China Lodging Group, Limited.
Dividends
Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. China Lodging Group, Limited does not pay a dividend. Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation pays out 25.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.
Profitability
This table compares China Lodging Group, Limited and Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| China Lodging Group, Limited | 13.29% | 16.80% | 9.09% |
| Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation | 7.90% | 16.96% | 6.53% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares China Lodging Group, Limited and Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| China Lodging Group, Limited | $996.83 million | 7.05 | $265.64 million | $1.84 | 54.89 |
| Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation | $1.36 billion | 2.18 | $268.31 million | $5.56 | 19.67 |
Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than China Lodging Group, Limited. Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than China Lodging Group, Limited, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
44.9% of China Lodging Group, Limited shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.9% of Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 49.4% of China Lodging Group, Limited shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation beats China Lodging Group, Limited on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About China Lodging Group, Limited
China Lodging Group, Limited is a holding company. The Company is a multi-brand hotel group in China with leased, manachised and franchised models. Under the lease model, the Company directly operates hotels located on leased properties. Under the manachise model, the Company manages manachised hotels through the on-site hotel managers the Company appoints and collects fees from franchisees. Under the franchise model, the Company provides training, reservation and support services to the franchised hotels and collects fees from franchisees. The Company has approximately 620 leased hotels; over 2,070 manachised hotels and approximately 80 franchised hotels in operation and over 20 leased hotels and approximately 660 manachised and franchised hotels under development. The Company offers approximately seven hotel brands that focus on various segments of customers: Joya Hotel, Manxin Hotels & Resorts, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel and Hi Inn.
About Marriot Vacations Worldwide Corporation
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation focuses on vacation ownership, based on number of owners, number of resorts and revenues. The Company is an exclusive worldwide developer, marketer, seller and manager of vacation ownership and related products under the Marriott Vacation Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands. The Company operates through three segments North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. In the North America segment, it develops, markets, sells and manages vacation ownership and related products under the Marriott Vacation Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands. Its Europe segment is engaged in selling its existing projects and managing existing resorts. Its Asia Pacific segment, it develops, markets, sells and manages two points-based programs that it designed to appeal to the vacation preferences of the market, Marriott Vacation Club, Asia Pacific and Marriott Vacation Club Destinations, Australia, as well as a weeks-based right-to-use product.
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