Carnival (NYSE:CCL) vs. Dine Brands Global (NYSE:DIN) Head-To-Head Comparison

Dine Brands Global (NYSE:DIN) and Carnival (NYSE:CCL) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.8% of Dine Brands Global shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.2% of Carnival shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.7% of Dine Brands Global shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Carnival shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Dine Brands Global and Carnival, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dine Brands Global	1	8	0	0	1.89
Carnival	0	5	21	1	2.85

Dine Brands Global currently has a consensus price target of $32.83, indicating a potential upside of 3.74%. Carnival has a consensus price target of $35.08, indicating a potential upside of 49.16%. Given Carnival’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Carnival is more favorable than Dine Brands Global.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dine Brands Global and Carnival”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dine Brands Global	$879.30 million	0.46	$17.10 million	$0.47	67.34
Carnival	$26.62 billion	1.21	$2.76 billion	$2.22	10.59

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

Dividends

Dine Brands Global pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Carnival pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Dine Brands Global pays out 161.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Carnival pays out 27.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Carnival is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Dine Brands Global and Carnival’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dine Brands Global	0.75%	-20.34%	3.17%
Carnival	11.24%	26.11%	6.36%

Risk & Volatility

Dine Brands Global has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carnival has a beta of 2.31, suggesting that its stock price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Carnival beats Dine Brands Global on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dine Brands Global

Dine Brands Global, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns, franchises, and operates restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through six segments: Applebee's Franchise Operations, International House of Pancakes (IHOP) Franchise Solutions, Fuzzy's franchise operations, Rental Operations, Financing Operations, and Company-Operated Restaurant Operations. It owns and franchises three restaurant concepts, including Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar within the casual dining category; and IHOP in the family dining category of the restaurant industry; Fuzzy's Taco Shop within the fast-casual dining category. In addition, its Applebee's restaurants offer American fare with drinks and local draft beers; IHOP restaurants provide full table services, food and beverage; and Fuzzy's Taco Shop offers baja-style mexican food like baja tacos, chips and queso, guacamole and salsa made in house, and a full bar including margaritas, and cold draft beer. The company was formerly known as DineEquity, Inc. and changed its name to Dine Brands Global, Inc. in February 2018. Dine Brands Global, Inc. was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

About Carnival

Carnival Corp. engages in the operation of cruise ships. It operates through the following business segments: North America and Australia (NAA) Cruise, Europe and Asia (EA) Cruise Operations, Cruise Support, and Tour and Others. The North America and Australia (NAA) Cruise segment includes the Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn. The Europe and Asia (EA) Cruise Operations segment consists of AIDA, Costa, Cunard, and P&O Cruises (UK). The Cruise Support segment represents port destinations and private islands for the benefit of its cruise brands. The Tour and Other segment operates hotel and transportation operations of Holland America Princess Alaska Tours. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Miami, FL.