Contrasting Carnival (NYSE:CUK) and Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality (NYSE:PRSU)

Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality (NYSE:PRSU) and Carnival (NYSE:CUK) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carnival has a beta of 2.46, suggesting that its stock price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality and Carnival’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality	5.01%	5.23%	3.63%
Carnival	11.48%	27.89%	6.21%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.9% of Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.8% of Carnival shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Carnival shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality and Carnival, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality	0	2	3	0	2.60
Carnival	0	1	1	0	2.50

Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality currently has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.55%. Given Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality is more favorable than Carnival.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality and Carnival”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality	$452.42 million	2.21	$22.67 million	$0.78	45.67
Carnival	$26.62 billion	0.17	$2.76 billion	$2.25	10.61

Carnival has higher revenue and earnings than Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality. Carnival is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality

Pursuit Attractions & Hospitality, Inc. engages in the provision of hospitality and leisure activities, experiential marketing, and live events. It operates through the following segments: Pursuit, Spiro, and GES Exhibitions. The Pursuit segment provides travel experiences that include recreational attractions, unique hotels and lodges, food and beverage, retail, sightseeing, and ground transportation services. The Spiro segment is an experiential marketing agency that partners with brands around the world to manage and elevate their global experiential marketing activities. The GES Exhibitions segment is a global exhibition services company that partners with exhibition and conference organizers as a full-service provider of strategic and logistics solutions to manage the complexity of their shows. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Denver, CO.

About Carnival

Carnival Plc operates as a global cruise and vacation company. The firm offers holiday and vacation products to a customer base that is broadly varied in terms of cultures, languages and leisure-time preferences. It operates through the North America and Australia (NAA), Europe and Asia (EA), Cruise Support, and Tour and Other segments. The NAA segment includes Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, P and O Cruises (Australia), Princess and Seabourn. The EA segment includes AIDA, Costa, Cunard, and P and O Cruises (UK). The Cruise Support segment includes a portfolio of port destinations and other services, all of which are operated for the benefit of cruise brands. The Tour and Other segment represents the hotel and transportation operations of Holland America Princess Alaska Tours and other operations. The company was founded on July 19, 2000 and is headquartered in Southampton, the United Kingdom.