Critical Review: United Parks & Resorts (NYSE:PRKS) and Target Hospitality (NASDAQ:TH)

United Parks & Resorts (NYSE:PRKS) and Target Hospitality (NASDAQ:TH) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for United Parks & Resorts and Target Hospitality, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Parks & Resorts	2	6	4	0	2.17
Target Hospitality	1	0	2	1	2.75

United Parks & Resorts presently has a consensus target price of $47.20, indicating a potential upside of 30.76%. Target Hospitality has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.54%. Given United Parks & Resorts’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe United Parks & Resorts is more favorable than Target Hospitality.

Profitability

This table compares United Parks & Resorts and Target Hospitality’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Parks & Resorts	9.09%	-35.46%	5.63%
Target Hospitality	-13.47%	-11.11%	-8.13%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.4% of Target Hospitality shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of United Parks & Resorts shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Target Hospitality shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Parks & Resorts and Target Hospitality”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Parks & Resorts	$1.66 billion	1.02	$168.35 million	$2.65	13.62
Target Hospitality	$320.64 million	5.83	-$37.12 million	($0.44)	-42.41

United Parks & Resorts has higher revenue and earnings than Target Hospitality. Target Hospitality is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Parks & Resorts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

United Parks & Resorts has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Target Hospitality has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Parks & Resorts beats Target Hospitality on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Parks & Resorts

United Parks & Resorts, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the ownership and operation of theme parks. Its portfolio includes SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, Sesame Place, and Sea Rescue. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Orlando, FL.

About Target Hospitality

Target Hospitality Corp. operates as a specialty rental and hospitality services company in North America. The company operates through two segments, Hospitality & Facilities Services – South and Government. It owns a network of specialty rental accommodation units. In addition, the company provides catering and food, maintenance, housekeeping, grounds-keeping, security, health and recreation facilities, workforce community management, concierge, and laundry services. It serves the U.S. government contractors and investment grade natural resource development companies. Target Hospitality Corp. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.