Analyzing BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) and Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC)

Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC) and BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Marriott Vacations Worldwide and BJ’s Restaurants’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	-6.47%	12.27%	2.68%
BJ’s Restaurants	2.86%	12.93%	4.79%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.5% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. 13.3% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Marriott Vacations Worldwide has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BJ’s Restaurants has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Marriott Vacations Worldwide and BJ’s Restaurants, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	2	4	8	0	2.43
BJ’s Restaurants	1	4	4	0	2.33

Marriott Vacations Worldwide presently has a consensus target price of $108.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.43%. BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus target price of $62.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.40%. Given BJ’s Restaurants’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BJ’s Restaurants is more favorable than Marriott Vacations Worldwide.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Marriott Vacations Worldwide and BJ’s Restaurants”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	$5.03 billion	0.78	-$308.00 million	($9.74)	-11.72
BJ’s Restaurants	$1.40 billion	0.94	$48.81 million	$1.87	33.02

BJ’s Restaurants has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Marriott Vacations Worldwide. Marriott Vacations Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BJ’s Restaurants, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

BJ’s Restaurants beats Marriott Vacations Worldwide on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation, a vacation company, develops, markets, sells, and manages vacation ownership and related businesses, products, and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Vacation Ownership and Exchange & Third-Party Management. The company manages vacation ownership and related products under the Marriott Vacation Club, Grand Residences by Marriott, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, Hyatt Vacation Club, and Marriott Vacation Club Pulse brands. It develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership and related products under The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club brand; and holds right to develop, market, and sell ownership residential products under The Ritz-Carlton Residences brand. In addition, the company offers exchange networks and membership programs, as well as provision of management services to other resorts and lodging properties through Interval International, and Aqua-Aston business brands. Further, it provides financing consumer purchases of vacation ownership products, and renting vacation ownership inventory. The company sells its upscale tier vacation ownership products primarily through a network of resort-based sales centers and off-site sales locations. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc. and changed its name to BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. in August 2004. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Huntington Beach, California.