Serve Robotics (NASDAQ:SERV) and H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) Critical Review

Serve Robotics (NASDAQ:SERV) and H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

46.4% of H World Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Serve Robotics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 49.4% of H World Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Serve Robotics and H World Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Serve Robotics	-2,315.80%	-55.34%	-52.06%
H World Group	18.90%	41.05%	8.07%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Serve Robotics and H World Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Serve Robotics	$2.65 million	140.70	-$101.36 million	($2.45)	-1.76
H World Group	$3.62 billion	3.67	$726.00 million	$2.27	19.04

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Serve Robotics and H World Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Serve Robotics	1	1	5	1	2.75
H World Group	0	2	3	0	2.60

Serve Robotics currently has a consensus target price of $14.77, indicating a potential upside of 243.41%. H World Group has a consensus target price of $61.20, indicating a potential upside of 41.63%. Given Serve Robotics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Serve Robotics is more favorable than H World Group.

Risk & Volatility

Serve Robotics has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, H World Group has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

H World Group beats Serve Robotics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Serve Robotics

Serve Robotics Inc. designs, develops, and operates low-emission robots that serve people in public spaces with food delivery in the United States. It builds self-driving delivery robots. The company was formerly known as Patricia Acquisition Corp. and changed its name to Serve Robotics Inc. in July 2023. Serve Robotics Inc. was founded in 2017 and is based in Redwood City, California.

About H World Group

H World Group Limited develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels in the People's Republic of China. The company operates hotels under its own brands, such as HanTing Hotel, Ni Hao Hotel, Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, Zleep Hotels, Ibis Hotel, JI Hotel, Orange Hotel, Starway Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, CitiGO Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, IntercityHotel, Manxin Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Madison Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, MAXX by Steigenberger, Jaz in the City, Grand Mercure, Steigenberger Icon, and Song Hotels. The company was formerly known as Huazhu Group Limited and changed its name to H World Group Limited in June 2022. H World Group Limited was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.