Churchill Downs (NASDAQ:CHDN) & Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) Head-To-Head Comparison

Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) and Churchill Downs (NASDAQ:CHDN) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.7% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.6% of Churchill Downs shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Churchill Downs shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Six Flags Entertainment has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Churchill Downs has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Six Flags Entertainment and Churchill Downs, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Six Flags Entertainment	3	6	7	0	2.25
Churchill Downs	0	1	10	0	2.91

Six Flags Entertainment currently has a consensus target price of $21.50, suggesting a potential upside of 85.34%. Churchill Downs has a consensus target price of $134.89, suggesting a potential upside of 77.37%. Given Six Flags Entertainment’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Six Flags Entertainment is more favorable than Churchill Downs.

Profitability

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Churchill Downs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Six Flags Entertainment	-57.25%	7.43%	0.38%
Churchill Downs	13.82%	42.16%	6.31%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Churchill Downs”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Six Flags Entertainment	$3.10 billion	0.38	-$1.60 billion	($17.32)	-0.67
Churchill Downs	$2.99 billion	1.77	$383.00 million	$5.83	13.04

Churchill Downs has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Six Flags Entertainment. Six Flags Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Churchill Downs, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Churchill Downs beats Six Flags Entertainment on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Six Flags Entertainment

Cedar Fair, L.P. owns and operates amusement and water parks, as well as complementary resort facilities. Its amusement parks include Cedar Point located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo in Sandusky, Ohio; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles, California; Canada's Wonderland near Toronto, Ontario; Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kings Dominion situated near Richmond, Virginia; California's Great America located in Santa Clara, California; Dorney Park in Pennsylvania; Worlds of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri; Valleyfair situated near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Michigan's Adventure situated near Muskegon, Michigan; Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas; and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas. The company also owns and operates the Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort, Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point's Express Hotel, and Sawmill Creek Resort. Cedar Fair, L.P. was founded in 1983 and is based in Sandusky, Ohio.

About Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs Incorporated operates as a racing, online wagering, and gaming entertainment company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Live and Historical Racing, TwinSpires, and Gaming. The company operates pari-mutuel gaming entertainment venues; TwinSpires, an online wagering platform for horse racing, sports, and iGaming; retail sports books; casino gaming; and Terre Haute Casino Resort. It also offers streaming video of live horse races, replays, and an assortment of racing and handicapping information; and provides the Bloodstock Research Information Services platform for horse racing statistical data. In addition, the company manufactures and operates pari-mutuel wagering systems for racetracks, off-track betting facilities, and other pari-mutuel wagering businesses. Churchill Downs Incorporated was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.