Reviewing Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC) and Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS)

Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC) and Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Madison Square Garden’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	-6.72%	11.37%	2.58%
Madison Square Garden	-2.07%	N/A	-1.39%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Madison Square Garden, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	4	1	6	1	2.33
Madison Square Garden	0	6	3	0	2.33

Marriott Vacations Worldwide currently has a consensus price target of $80.70, indicating a potential upside of 14.84%. Madison Square Garden has a consensus price target of $342.20, indicating a potential downside of 3.12%. Given Marriott Vacations Worldwide’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Marriott Vacations Worldwide is more favorable than Madison Square Garden.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Madison Square Garden”s 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	0.48	-$308.00 million	($10.09)	-6.96
Madison Square Garden	$1.04 billion	8.18	-$22.44 million	($0.93)	-379.79

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.5% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.9% of Madison Square Garden shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.3% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of Madison Square Garden shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Marriott Vacations Worldwide has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Madison Square Garden has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Marriott Vacations Worldwide beats Madison Square Garden on 9 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 Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. operates as a professional sports company in the United States. The company owns and operates a portfolio of assets that consists of the New York Knickerbockers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Its other professional franchises include development league teams, the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League and the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. The company also owns Knicks Gaming, an esports franchise that competes in the NBA 2K League. In addition, it operates professional sports team performance centers, the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh. The company was formerly known as The Madison Square Garden Company. Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in New York, New York.