Trip.com Group (NASDAQ:TCOM) vs. Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) Critical Contrast

Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) and Trip.com Group (NASDAQ:TCOM) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Six Flags Entertainment and Trip.com Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Six Flags Entertainment	2	5	7	0	2.36
Trip.com Group	0	2	9	0	2.82

Six Flags Entertainment currently has a consensus price target of $24.62, indicating a potential upside of 44.30%. Trip.com Group has a consensus price target of $77.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.45%. Given Trip.com Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Trip.com Group is more favorable than Six Flags Entertainment.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

64.7% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.4% of Trip.com Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.0% of Trip.com Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Six Flags Entertainment pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Trip.com Group pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Six Flags Entertainment pays out -1.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Trip.com Group pays out 4.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Six Flags Entertainment is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

Six Flags Entertainment has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trip.com Group has a beta of -0.15, meaning that its share price is 115% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Trip.com Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Six Flags Entertainment	-51.58%	3.77%	0.52%
Trip.com Group	53.28%	18.56%	11.40%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Trip.com Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Six Flags Entertainment	$3.10 billion	0.56	-$1.60 billion	($15.87)	-1.07
Trip.com Group	$8.94 billion	3.74	$4.76 billion	$6.70	7.64

Trip.com Group has higher revenue and earnings than Six Flags Entertainment. Six Flags Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Trip.com Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Trip.com Group beats Six Flags Entertainment on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Six Flags Entertainment

Cedar Fair, L.P. owns and operates amusement and water parks, as well as complementary resort facilities. Its amusement parks include Cedar Point located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo in Sandusky, Ohio; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles, California; Canada's Wonderland near Toronto, Ontario; Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kings Dominion situated near Richmond, Virginia; California's Great America located in Santa Clara, California; Dorney Park in Pennsylvania; Worlds of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri; Valleyfair situated near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Michigan's Adventure situated near Muskegon, Michigan; Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas; and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas. The company also owns and operates the Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort, Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point's Express Hotel, and Sawmill Creek Resort. Cedar Fair, L.P. was founded in 1983 and is based in Sandusky, Ohio.

About Trip.com Group

Trip.com Group Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a travel service provider for accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and in-destination, corporate travel management, and other travel-related services in China and internationally. The company acts as an agent for hotel-related transactions and selling air tickets, as well as provides train, long-distance bus, and ferry tickets; travel insurance products, such as flight delay, air accident, and baggage loss coverage; and air-ticket delivery, online check-in and seat selection, express security screening, real-time flight status tracker, and airport VIP lounge services. It also provides independent leisure travelers bundled packaged-tour products comprising group, semi-group, and customized and packaged tours with various transportation arrangements, including air, cruise, bus, and car rental services. In addition, the company offers integrated transportation and accommodation services; destination transportation and ticket, activity, insurance, visa, and tour guide services; user support, supplier management, and customer relationship management services; and in-destination products and services. Further, It provides its corporate clients with business visit, incentive trip, meeting and conference, travel data collection and analysis, and industry benchmarking solutions; and Corporate Travel Management System, an online platform that integrates information management, online booking and authorization, online inquiry, and travel reporting systems. Additionally, the company offers online advertising and financial services, such as marketing planning and travel media services. It operates under the Ctrip, Qunar, Trip.com, and Skyscanner brands. The company was formerly known as Ctrip.com International, Ltd. and changed its name to Trip.com Group Limited in October 2019. Trip.com Group Limited was founded in 1999 and is based in Singapore.