Reviewing Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) and Lindblad Expeditions (NASDAQ:LIND)

Lindblad Expeditions (NASDAQ:LIND) and Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Lindblad Expeditions has a beta of 2.24, indicating that its stock price is 124% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bloomin’ Brands has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Lindblad Expeditions and Bloomin’ Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lindblad Expeditions	1	3	4	1	2.56
Bloomin’ Brands	0	11	0	0	2.00

Lindblad Expeditions presently has a consensus price target of $31.50, indicating a potential downside of 15.66%. Bloomin’ Brands has a consensus price target of $10.90, indicating a potential upside of 3.08%. Given Bloomin’ Brands’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bloomin’ Brands is more favorable than Lindblad Expeditions.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lindblad Expeditions and Bloomin’ Brands”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lindblad Expeditions	$771.02 million	3.18	-$29.72 million	($0.38)	-98.29
Bloomin’ Brands	$3.98 billion	0.23	$8.24 million	$0.31	34.10

Bloomin’ Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Lindblad Expeditions. Lindblad Expeditions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bloomin’ Brands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.9% of Lindblad Expeditions shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.1% of Lindblad Expeditions shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Bloomin’ Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Lindblad Expeditions and Bloomin’ Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lindblad Expeditions	-2.08%	-0.56%	0.13%
Bloomin’ Brands	0.70%	28.95%	3.47%

Summary

Bloomin’ Brands beats Lindblad Expeditions on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lindblad Expeditions

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. provides marine expedition adventures and travel experience worldwide. It operates through Lindblad and Land Experiences segment. Lindblad segment provides ship-based expeditions aboard customized, nimble, and intimately-scaled vessels, which offers up-close experiences in the planet's wild and remote places, and capitals of culture; and offers expedition ship which is equipped with state-of-the-art tools for in-depth exploration with infrastructure and ports, such as Antarctica and the Arctic, and places that accessed by a ship comprising Galápagos Islands, Alaska, Baja California's Sea of Cortez and Panama, and foster engagement activities. The Land Experiences segment comprises natural habitats, which provides over 100 different expedition itineraries in more than 45 countries across seven continents, with eco-conscious expeditions and nature-focused, and small-group tours including polar bear tours and bear adventure; and DuVine provides intimate group cycling and adventure tours around the world with local cycling experts as guides in local cultural, cuisine, and accommodations. This segment also offers off the beaten path including small group travel, led by local, and experienced guides with focus on wildlife, hiking national parks, and culture; and classical journey, a curated active small-group and private custom journeys centered around cinematic walks led by expert local guides over 50 countries across the world. In addition, it has an alliance with National Geographic Partners, LLC, which provides lecturers and National Geographic experts including photographers, marine biologists, writers, naturalists, field researchers, and film crews; and partnered with World Wildlife Fund to offer conservation travel. Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Bloomin’ Brands

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. engages in the acquisition, operation, design, and development of restaurant concepts. It operates through the U.S. and International geographical segments. The U.S. segment operates in the USA and Puerto Rico. The International segment operates in Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China. Its brands include Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. The company was founded by Chris Thomas Sullivan, Robert Danker Basham and John Timothy Gannon in March 1988 and is headquartered in Tampa, FL.