Critical Survey: Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) & Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN)

Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) and Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Hilton Grand Vacations and Vail Resorts, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hilton Grand Vacations	1	10	2	0	2.08
Vail Resorts	3	9	5	0	2.12

Hilton Grand Vacations currently has a consensus price target of $49.10, suggesting a potential upside of 9.94%. Vail Resorts has a consensus price target of $150.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.19%. Given Hilton Grand Vacations’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Hilton Grand Vacations is more favorable than Vail Resorts.

Risk & Volatility

Hilton Grand Vacations has a beta of 1.6, indicating that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vail Resorts has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.2% of Hilton Grand Vacations shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Vail Resorts shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Hilton Grand Vacations shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Vail Resorts shares are held by company 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 Hilton Grand Vacations and Vail Resorts’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hilton Grand Vacations	7.02%	39.73%	4.61%
Vail Resorts	5.20%	22.82%	2.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hilton Grand Vacations and Vail Resorts”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hilton Grand Vacations	$5.05 billion	0.67	$81.00 million	$5.19	8.61
Vail Resorts	$2.84 billion	2.01	$147.54 million	$4.14	38.62

Vail Resorts has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Hilton Grand Vacations. Hilton Grand Vacations is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vail Resorts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Hilton Grand Vacations beats Vail Resorts on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hilton Grand Vacations

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc., a timeshare company, develops, markets, sells, manages, and operates the resorts, plans and ancillary reservation services under the Hilton Grand Vacations brand. It operates through Real Estate Sales and Financing, and Resort Operations and Club Management segments. Real Estate Sales and Financing segment market and sells the VOIs, and source VOIs through fee-for-service agreements with third-party developers; and provides consumer financing and services loans. Resort Operations and Club Management segment manages and operates the clubs which offers exchange, leisure travel, and reservation services, as well as engages in the rental of inventory made available due to ownership exchanges through its club programs, and provides ancillary services including food and beverage, retail and spa at timeshare properties. Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Vail Resorts

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates mountain resorts and regional ski areas in the United States. It operates through three segments: Mountain, Lodging, and Real Estate. The Mountain segment operates 41 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas. This segment is also involved in the ancillary activities, including ski school, dining, and retail/rental operations, as well as real estate brokerage activities. The Lodging segment owns and/or manages various luxury hotels and condominiums under the RockResorts brand; other lodging properties; various condominiums located in proximity to the company's mountain resorts; destination resorts; and golf courses, as well as offers resort ground transportation services. This segment operates owned and managed hotel and condominium units. The Real Estate segment owns, develops, and sells real estate properties. The company was founded in 1845 and is based in Broomfield, Colorado.