Vail Resorts (MTN) and Its Competitors Critical Comparison

Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN) is one of 383 public companies in the “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Vail Resorts to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Vail Resorts has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vail Resorts’ competitors have a beta of 1.44, suggesting that their average share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Vail Resorts shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.6% of shares of all “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Vail Resorts shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of shares of all “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Vail Resorts and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vail Resorts	3	9	5	0	2.12
Vail Resorts Competitors	3837	17328	25646	908	2.50

Vail Resorts presently has a consensus price target of $150.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.86%. As a group, “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies have a potential upside of 53.27%. Given Vail Resorts’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Vail Resorts has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vail Resorts and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vail Resorts	$2.84 billion	$147.54 million	36.92
Vail Resorts Competitors	$3.37 billion	$250.18 million	-160.79

Vail Resorts’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Vail Resorts. Vail Resorts is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Vail Resorts pays an annual dividend of $8.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Vail Resorts pays out 214.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 38.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Vail Resorts has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Vail Resorts and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vail Resorts	5.20%	22.82%	2.61%
Vail Resorts Competitors	8.44%	-42.19%	1.97%

Summary

Vail Resorts competitors beat Vail Resorts on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Vail Resorts

Vail Resorts, Inc. operates mountain resorts and related businesses, including lodging, ski schools, equipment rentals, dining and retail. Its resorts offer skiing and snowboarding in winter as well as hiking, mountain biking and other activities in warmer months. The company’s portfolio spans the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Vail Resorts also sells the Epic Pass, which provides access to participating resorts and is a key part of its season-pass business. The company’s history is closely tied to Vail Mountain in Colorado, which opened in 1962.