Head-To-Head Comparison: United Parks & Resorts (NYSE:PRKS) & Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

United Parks & Resorts (NYSE:PRKS) and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for United Parks & Resorts and Yum! Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Parks & Resorts	1	9	4	0	2.21
Yum! Brands	1	7	13	0	2.57

United Parks & Resorts presently has a consensus target price of $46.90, suggesting a potential upside of 43.76%. Yum! Brands has a consensus target price of $174.67, suggesting a potential upside of 26.38%. Given United Parks & Resorts’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe United Parks & Resorts is more favorable than Yum! Brands.

Profitability

This table compares United Parks & Resorts and Yum! Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Parks & Resorts	8.11%	-27.85%	5.04%
Yum! Brands	25.42%	-24.57%	22.24%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

82.4% of Yum! Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of United Parks & Resorts shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Yum! Brands shares are held by 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.

Volatility and Risk

United Parks & Resorts has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yum! Brands has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Parks & Resorts and Yum! Brands”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Parks & Resorts	$1.65 billion	0.90	$168.35 million	$2.54	12.84
Yum! Brands	$8.21 billion	4.59	$1.56 billion	$7.95	17.38

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

Summary

Yum! Brands beats United Parks & Resorts on 11 of the 14 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 Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products. The company was formerly known as TRICON Global Restaurants, Inc. and changed its name to Yum! Brands, Inc. in May 2002. Yum! Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.