Head-To-Head Comparison: Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) versus Viking (NYSE:VIK)

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) and Viking (NYSE:VIK) are both large-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Royal Caribbean Cruises and Viking, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Royal Caribbean Cruises	0	3	17	1	2.90
Viking	0	5	11	0	2.69

Royal Caribbean Cruises presently has a consensus price target of $271.95, suggesting a potential upside of 14.38%. Viking has a consensus price target of $47.53, suggesting a potential upside of 10.15%. Given Royal Caribbean Cruises’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Royal Caribbean Cruises is more favorable than Viking.

Profitability

This table compares Royal Caribbean Cruises and Viking’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Royal Caribbean Cruises	17.46%	48.97%	8.86%
Viking	-10.97%	N/A	-1.53%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Royal Caribbean Cruises and Viking”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Royal Caribbean Cruises	$16.76 billion	3.85	$2.88 billion	$12.04	19.75
Viking	$5.33 billion	3.49	-$1.86 billion	$0.26	165.97

Royal Caribbean Cruises has higher revenue and earnings than Viking. Royal Caribbean Cruises is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Viking, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.5% of Royal Caribbean Cruises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of Viking shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Royal Caribbean Cruises shares are owned 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.

Summary

Royal Caribbean Cruises beats Viking on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 21, 2024, it operated 65 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About Viking

Viking Holdings Ltd engages in the passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through River and Ocean segments. The company also operates as a tour entrepreneur for passengers and related activities in tourism. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 92 ships, including 81 river vessels comprising 58 Longships, 10 smaller classes based on the Longship design, 11 other river vessels, and 1 river vessel charter and the Viking Mississippi; 9 ocean ships; and 2 expedition ships. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.