Head-To-Head Analysis: Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) versus BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP)

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) and BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.8% of Expedia Group shares are held by institutional investors. 9.1% of Expedia Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Expedia Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. BW LPG pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Expedia Group pays out 18.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BW LPG pays out 59.3% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Expedia Group and BW LPG, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Expedia Group	1	17	10	3	2.48
BW LPG	0	0	1	0	3.00

Expedia Group currently has a consensus price target of $186.35, suggesting a potential upside of 12.51%. Given Expedia Group’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Expedia Group is more favorable than BW LPG.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Expedia Group and BW LPG”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Expedia Group	$13.79 billion	1.53	$1.23 billion	$8.48	19.53
BW LPG	$3.39 billion	0.46	$248.84 million	$1.89	6.32

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

Profitability

This table compares Expedia Group and BW LPG’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Expedia Group	9.01%	52.41%	5.23%
BW LPG	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Expedia Group beats BW LPG on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc. operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through B2C, B2B, and trivago segments. Its B2C segment includes Brand Expedia, a full-service online travel brand offers various travel products and services; Hotels.com for lodging accommodations; Vrbo, an online marketplace for the alternative accommodations; Orbitz, Travelocity, Wotif Group, ebookers, CheapTickets, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com. The company's B2B segment provides various travel and non-travel companies including airlines, offline travel agents, online retailers, corporate travel management, and financial institutions who leverage its travel technology and tap into its diverse supply to augment their offerings and market Expedia Group rates and availabilities to its travelers. Its trivago segment, a hotel metasearch website, which send referrals to online travel companies and travel service providers from hotel metasearch websites. In addition, the company provides brand advertising through online and offline channels, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and search engine marketing, as well as metasearch, social media, direct and personalized traveler communications on its websites, and through direct e-mail communication with its travelers. The company was formerly known as Expedia, Inc. and changed its name to Expedia Group, Inc. in March 2018. Expedia Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About BW LPG

BW LPG Limited, an investment holding company, engages in ship owning and chartering activities worldwide. The company operates through Shipping and Product Services segments. The company involved in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas to oil companies, and trading and utility companies. It also offers integrated liquified petroleum gas (LPG) delivery services and support; wholesale and trade of LPG; and management services. It owns and operates LPG vessels and a fleet of very large gas carriers. The company was formerly known as BW Gas LPG Holding Limited and changed its name to BW LPG Limited in September 2013. BW LPG Limited was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Singapore.