Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) versus Wayfair (NYSE:W) Head-To-Head Survey

Wayfair (NYSE:W) and Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Wayfair and Expedia Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wayfair	-2.41%	-2.20%	1.92%
Expedia Group	9.81%	84.33%	7.42%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Wayfair and Expedia Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wayfair	$12.46 billion	0.88	-$313.00 million	($2.34)	-35.31
Expedia Group	$14.73 billion	2.14	$1.29 billion	$11.36	22.68

Expedia Group has higher revenue and earnings than Wayfair. Wayfair is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Expedia Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.7% of Wayfair shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Expedia Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.4% of Wayfair shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Expedia Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Wayfair and Expedia Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wayfair	1	11	18	1	2.61
Expedia Group	0	22	17	0	2.44

Wayfair currently has a consensus price target of $100.36, indicating a potential upside of 21.48%. Expedia Group has a consensus price target of $288.64, indicating a potential upside of 12.04%. Given Wayfair’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Wayfair is more favorable than Expedia Group.

Volatility and Risk

Wayfair has a beta of 2.96, indicating that its stock price is 196% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expedia Group has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Expedia Group beats Wayfair on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wayfair

Wayfair Inc. provides e-commerce business in the United States and internationally. The company offers approximately thirty million products for the home sector. It offers online selections of furniture, décor, housewares, and home improvement products through its sites consisting of Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold, and Wayfair Professional. The company offers its products under the Three Posts and Mercury Row brand name. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc. operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through B2C, B2B, and trivago segments. Its B2C segment includes Brand Expedia, a full-service online travel brand offers various travel products and services; Hotels.com for lodging accommodations; Vrbo, an online marketplace for the alternative accommodations; Orbitz, Travelocity, Wotif Group, ebookers, CheapTickets, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com. The company's B2B segment provides various travel and non-travel companies including airlines, offline travel agents, online retailers, corporate travel management, and financial institutions who leverage its travel technology and tap into its diverse supply to augment their offerings and market Expedia Group rates and availabilities to its travelers. Its trivago segment, a hotel metasearch website, which send referrals to online travel companies and travel service providers from hotel metasearch websites. In addition, the company provides brand advertising through online and offline channels, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and search engine marketing, as well as metasearch, social media, direct and personalized traveler communications on its websites, and through direct e-mail communication with its travelers. The company was formerly known as Expedia, Inc. and changed its name to Expedia Group, Inc. in March 2018. Expedia Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.